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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through I lie lull lexl of 1 1 us book on I lie web al |_-.:. :.-.-:: / / books . qooqle . com/| - fa - *»-.--r - ■r M ....i_-^ -. . - -.■>.. BODLEIAN LIBRARY The gift of Miss Emma E I. Dunston Jz&s. ^5 Us?i^ • • i . 72 The White beaded Eagle and the Fish-hawk . 73 Magpie and Black-cap » • • . 74 The Goldfinch, Aberdevine, and Canary • ■ 78 Migratory agitation • • • « , 80 The alleged chastity of the Turtle-dove . . 82 Anecdote of a Guinea Parrot • « < . 84 CHAPTER V. Peculiarities in Pairing . « . .86 The Wild Turkey • • < . 86 Fighting of the males • • • i . 88 Roosts of Wild Turkeys » • i . 89 Black Grouse > • < . 91 Ruffed Grouse of America ■ • * . 91 Pinnated Grouse » • . 94 Assemblage of Bustards ► • < . 97 Booming of the Bittern » • < . 99 Killing of Ruffs . % • . 99 Fighting of Ruffs * • i . 100 Cock-fighting . • • < . 103 CHAPTE R VI. Structure of Eggs . 105 Egg-organ, or ovarium • • r » . 106 Embryo egg • • I . 107 Parts of the egg • . 109 Use of the white • » « . Ill . Singular mechanism • t • i . 112 Chemical constituents of an € gg * . 114 Air-bag in the egg . ■ * * . 114 Subwntaneous eggs » • i i • 116 VU1 COM7XMT0. CHAPTER VII. Colour of Eggs , . • • • Use of colours • • Instances from flowers, shells, and spiders Formation of the egg-shell • • Canary's eggs • • • Variety of markings in the same species • Theories of -Darwin and Gloger • . Objections thereto • • • , CHAPTER VIII. Facts observed in Hatching Anecdotes from Pliny and Reaumur Artificial hatching in Egypt . Egyptian egg-oven or mamat Experiments of RSaumur Hatching eggs in dung • Hatching in a bake-house Experiment with the eggs of a Wood-wren CHAPTER IX. Evolution of the Chick: Egg twelve hours after incubation After sixteen hours . After thirty-six hours After four days « After five days . . . After six -days . After seven and eight days After nine days . . After ten days . . • After fourteen days « • After eighteen days • • • Page 118 118 119 119 121 122 123 126 132 132 133 135 138 143 144 145 . 14. . 148 . 150 . 151 . 152 . 153 . 154 . 155 . 156 . 158 . 160 Ill* I , A Egg after twenty cfa$fc 3" Exit of th« chick «M' Bill scale . 61 r FractuteoftlfcJrttf ! 611 Fertility of eggs . Ji> ' Chick tlucd to the shell ^ CHAPTER X. Sheltering 6f the Young difference of smalt birds from poultry Training of capons as nurses . , Curious instance of a cat Legend of Romulus and Remus . Experiments on capons • • Artificial mothers . . gf I Reaumur's stove hatching-house . M lit £M Artificial mother for water-fowls i-M CHAPTER XI. deeding of the Yoang . « John Hunter's remarks on Pigeons Mistakes of Vieillot'and Temminck Legend of the Pelican . . . Origin thereof . Pelican confounded with the Spoonbill Eagles carrying off children — Ganymede Owls Chaffinches and Tom-tits Calculations of Bradley Remarks of Knapp • Rooks Swallows • . . Affection of parent birds Humming-bird • • trl Ui Odl Paga . 162 i 163 : 170 ; 172 . 173 175 175 177 180 181 184 187 188 A3 , 189 190 194 ,196 , 197 , 199 , 200 , 202 > 203 , 204 . 205 > 206 , 208 > 210 c^jws* » l' I**' 1 CHAPTER XII. Trying of youug Birds by their Parents Instinct • • Training of young Eagfes. , V. , -.The Stork ... '. ^ Remarks on tfce common opinion Instance from^Salmon-fry • , . Swallows and Sparrows . ' Warnings of danger . Anecdote from, Smellie • ' Instructions in catching prey -Rooks . CHAPTER XII Vocal Organs of Birds Mechanism of the voice, ■ . *i, - Aldrovand'a account of the Wild Swan , • ... - 4 Another Wild Swan discovered by Mr. Kingcote i ,•«. Vocal organs of birds according to Herissant Remarks of Hunter. Cuvier, and Kircher j .' .Tongue of the Nightingale - . • Call-note of the Bittern , Mistake of Thomson * « < • Bleating of the Snipe . • Crowned Pigeon of Africa CHAPTER XIV Language of Birds- . - . - . The Riehel Bird . . . Natural- notes of alarm . . Theoryof Darwin * . • Variety in the language of birds Social signals^for congregating : /(Fairies originating therefrom . Page ,] 212 ♦ 212 • 212 * SfclJ ,214 * 216 ^216 * 218 .219 ,221 .222 . 225 . 225 . 231, • 233 • 235 . 236 . 237 . 239 . 243 . 245 • 246 . 247 . 247 • ,247 • 249 • 252 • gtfif .45* coMrferfe. Various notes Trom Kircher % . CHAPTER XV.^ The Butcher Bird £fei%8jof Birds . • . ■ • £ ' - Female ( . Characters of the Nightingale's song «.-*- /.'. CflAPTER XVI. Sbfcg *f Birds continued- • . • : - Comparative table by Banrington and Syme ' -The Wood-thrush and Song-thrush . ' - The Dunnock and Chaffinch . -Nightingales of the north and the south 'Theory of Bufibn ' -Remarks of Goldsmith * The Pine Grosbeak ' American song-birds Keys of bird music Chanting Falcon • Singing of the Swan f. Night-song birds "Dreams of birds *-<*- - CHAPTER XVII. Intisatien and mimicry of Birds . « . • ^"-Origin of the pleasure caused by fcftUetkm Page . 257 ,; 260 • 260 .266 • 267 ; 269 < 272 .272 .* 279 . 283 • 284 290 290 291 293 294 297 298 299 302 305 307 308 313 ,315 316 816 arfi CONttftNTft. Anecdete of a Starling . Probable explanation of mocking in birdf • Page 317 /'« The PolygloUcbe;t< The Blue-jay Mocking-bird of America Comparison with the Nightingale v "The Ratisbon Nightingale % " (Jolonef O' Kelly's grey Parrot testimony of the Hon. and Rev. W i \i Herbert CHAPTER XVIII* Longevity of Birds Physical causes of old age Diseases in a state of nature < i 'C\: fl The Raven, the Pelican, and the Eagle Fabulous account of the Eagle Grey-headed Sparrows <* *. CHAPTER XIX rte Phoenir.— the Bernacle Goose 1 Account of the Phoenix by Herodotus '' Account by Tacitus '' Probable origin of the legends Fanciful accounts thereof Account from Bruce . Anecdote from Pliny . The Bernacle, or Claik Goose " ' Ocular witnesses of its fabulous origin ,s Gerard's figure . : . . v ° IU true history known before 1280 * M ©rigin «f the legend* * '. * V'i/EheFlying-aah. . . 319 . 320 . 323 . 325 . 332 . 33$ V 3|J . >•> ,* v <" . 340 / ** .3^2 .345 , 3'48 . sitf . 35i .351 ; 3ti .' 3& . 357 • 354 J 36& . 362 , 3o3 ..' 3(59 . 373 ILLUSTRATIONS. No. 1. Rumkin, or Tail-less Cock • * • 2. Night-herbn • . • • • 3. Pectinated Claw of Night-heron . . 4. Carolina Night-jar, or Chuck- will' s-widow 5. Nightjar's Foot, showing the Pectinated Claw 6. Podargus Auritus • • • • 7. Magnified Plan of the Cleaning Instrument 8. Larva of the Glow-worm, using its Cleaning Instrument 9. Grub of the Glow-worm devouring a Snail 10. Turkey Buzzard and Black Vulture • 11. The Crane . 12. King-bird of Paradise . . • 13. King of the Vultures . 14. Condor attacking a Puma • • 15. The Jack-snipe . . . . 16. The Dunlin .... 17. The White-headed Eagle and Fish-hawk 18. The Black-cap • 19. The Aberdevine and Nest • • 20. The Wild Turkey and Young • 21. The Ruffed Grouse 22. Pinnated Grouse in the act of strutting 23. American Grouse (Tetrao obtcurtu) 24. The Ovarium, or Egg-organ • • 2ft. -Embryo impregnated Egg Page 6 15 15 16 17 19 24 25 26 31 40 45 46 48 50 53 73 75 78 87 92 96 98 106 107 .1 .""," No. ILLUSTRATIONS, Page 26. New-laid Egg, with part of the Shell removed . .110 27. Egg of Black-cap 123 28. Egg of the Tomtit. 125 29. Egg of the Sky-lark .126 30. Egg of the Blackbird • . . . . .127 31. Egg of the Magpie ...... 130 32. Egyptian Egg-oven 135 33. Ground-plan of an Egyptian Egg-oven . . . 136 34. Transverse section and elevation of an Egyptian Egg- oven •••••••» 137 35. Transverse section and perspective elevation of an Egyptian Egg-oven • ••••, 133 36. Egg- frame ...... # . 142 37. Hatching Eggs in Dung . . • » 143 38. Hatching-room over the bake-house ovens of the Priory of L'Enfant Jesus at Paris . . . . » 144 39. An Egg as it appears twelve hours after incubation, with a magnified view of the Embryo Chick . .147 40. An Egg as it appears sixteen hours after incubation* with a magnified view of the Embryo Chick . .148 41. An Egg as it appears thirty-six hours after incubation, with a magnified view of the Embryo Chick • . 149 42. An Egg opened thirty-six hours after incubation, with a magnified view of the Embryo Chick, in which is shown the first appearance of the principal blood- vessels ••••«,,. 150 43. An Egg opened four days after incubation, with a magnified view of the Chick * • . .161 44. An Egg as it appears five days after incubation, with a magnified view of the Chick • • . .152 4ft. An Egg as it appears six days after incubation, with a magnified view of the Chick • . . • 1&3 ■riT'. m ILLUSTRATION* X* Ko. Page 46. Aa Egg m U appears seven days afterincubatKW, with a magnified view of the Chick . ~. » "* - • 154 47. An Egg as it appears eight days after incubation, witfe. a magnified view of the C^ick • , . . • 154 48. An Egg as it appears niae days after incubation . .155 49k The same Egg turned more to its right side « • 165 5& An Egg as it appears ten day* alter incubation . « 151 51. The Embryo Chick taken from the preceding Egg, with the amnion and vesicle removed • . • • 167 52, An Egg as it appears fourteen days after incubation • 158 5& The same Egg, with the external half of tee vesicle removed ........ 158 54. The Embryo of the preceding Egg, opened to show tad course of the principal blood-vessels which go to the vesicle and to the areolar membrane • • • 159 56*. An Egg as it appears eighteen days alter incubation • 160 56. The same Egg, with part of the vesicle removed, to show the Embryo Chick more clearly » • ♦ 168 57. The Embryo Chick opened to show the absorption of the yolk into the body 161 58. An Egg as it appears twenty days after incubation, the vesicle and amnion are removed, to show the position of the perfect Chick 162 59. Position of the Chick in the Egg 60. Position of the Chick in the Egg 61. Eggs fractured by the included Chick 62. Positions of the Shell after the escape of the Chick • 171 63. Artificial Mothers 184 64. Improved artificial Mother . • . • • 185 65. Reaumur's Stove Hatching-house • • • .187 66. Artificial Mother for Water-fowls • • • • 188 67. Crops of Pigeons • . , • , » t -191 164 165 170 tn I IMMIGRATIONS. No. Pag* 68. Breastbone of a Wild Swan, with part of the Keel removed to show the convolutions of the Trachea within it . . . ' . . . . .232 69. Point of the Keel-hone, showing the opening through which the Trachea enters and returns . » • 232 70. Trachea of C. Bewickii 234 71. Singularly formed Windpipe of the Bntor • • 245 72. Crowned Pigeon of Africa . . . . .246 73. The Wood-thrush ...... 292 74. Pine Grosbeak, or Hawfinch . • . . .299 75. Chanting Falcon 307 76 The Polyglot-chat . • • . • .320 77. Lammer Geyer, Bearded Eagle, or Vulture v .361 78. Bernacle, or Claik Goose 363 79. Bernacle Gooee-tree, from Gerard's Herbal • • 369 80* Bernacle Goose-tree, from Aldrovand • • . 372 81. Beraacle Shell 376 82. Fowlers of St KUda 377 i*. DOMESTIC HABITS OF BIRDS. Chapter I. HABITS OF CLEANLINESS IN BIftDBV Animals appear to be cleanly in proportion to their sprightliness and activity ; and small animals, with few exceptions, are also more active and more cteanly than those of a larger size. The domestic jittbits of birds, as well as what may be called their personal habits, furnish us with many illustrations of their peculiar attention to cleanliness, some of .which it may prove interesting to detail. The in- stant any of their feathers are soiled they set about trimming them, and they are no less attentive to their nests. It is, no doubt, the same uncomfortable feeling which we experience when our hair becomes disar- ranged or tangled that induces birds to smooth their feathers ; the matting together, for example, of two contiguous feathers at the points, causing them upon every motion of the muscles of the skin to twitch away the parts from which they spring. The irrita- tion thus produced incites the bird to examine the feathers contiguous to the part ; and by nibbling every plumelet with its beak, it soon succeeds in bringing them into their proper position, while it frees them, at the same time, from any extraneous matter that may adhere to them. It is surprising how soon nestling birds may 2 HABITS OF BIRD** he 'seen r thus trimming themselves. A short time after they are able to open their eyes, while the down which covers them when hatched has not begun to be replaced by feathers, we have, in nu- meioiis instances; seep tfeoV 'turning rppnd tfcir heads and going over all the tiny bits of down and the ends of the sprouting feathers within their reach. This might be plausibly supposed to be ra- ther the mother's tasjc, and it is usually so stated in books ; but though the mother is very attentive, as we shall presently see, to every species of cleanliness, Providence has ordered that so important a circum- stance $houl4 not be, left wbqUy to her care. Those who have not an opportunity of verifying our remark in the ease pt nestling birds, may readily pbserye tjie same thing in domestic animals. Cats, for ex- ample, are very assiduous in cleaning the fur of their Jtittens, for which purpose their rough tongue is ad- mirably adapted : but a kijtten, like the nestling bird, when only a few days old, may be seen dressing Itself assjdupusly; and as soon as it can run about, i\ will even endeavour to clean "its dam. This cir- cumstance we never observed among young birds and their mothers; though it is by no means un- common among' rabbits, ' horses, ' and other domestic quadrupeds, mutual assistance in cleaning is even given by individuals not of \\\e same family, as may be seen in horses dressing each other's necks ; and tVilson relates an instance of the same thins m the case of two birds, not even of the same species, in his inimitable account of the blue' jay {Garrulus cristatus, Brisson). An individual of this species, which had peen caught in the woods, was put into the same cage with an orchard oriole . (Icterus fpunuSj Bonaparte), who at first received the new- comer with no little jealousy ; but this all vanished in a few Jjpure, and they lived together in good humour. ' CLEANLINESS 9 *f When the jay {*oes to drink/' the narrative j^oceeS^j '^liis messmate very impudently jumps into the water to wash herself throwing it in showers oyer her com- panion, who bears it all patiently; venturing 116$ arid then to take a, sip between every splash, without betraying the smallest irritation. On the coritraryj h$ seems to take pleasure in his little fellow-prisoner allowing her lb peck (which she does very gently 1 about his whiskers, and to cleaii His claws from ine minute fragments of che shuts which happen to ad- here, to them*.". itucks and oiher water- tiirds are, if possible, more* assiduous in trimming their feathers than land-birds! one reason for which appears to be, that their blumelets being: of very close texture, any slight ae- rangementin them is readily felt from the air getting access to the; skin through the breach thence oc- casioned. The closeness of feather in aquatic birds' serves to present, ah impenetrable 'texture td the water in which they swim, as well as a smooth surface which diminishes the effects of friction lit their progress. . , The greater number of authors, }n addition to this", tell lis tnat birds, and more particularly aquatic birds. (Iress their feathers with a peculiar oil furbished for this purpose by a gland dh the rump; but this is ail opinion which we shall presently see admits of con- siderable doubt It may be well, how/ever, to state the' particulars of the common notion. " Upon the rump," says Willughby, *| grow two glandules, designed for the preparation arid secretion of a certain unctuous* humour, and furnished with a hole or excretory ves- sel About this hole grows a tuft of small feathers 1 or hairs, somewhat like to a painter's pencil. When, therefore, the Jrarts of the feathers are shattered, ruffled, or any way discbiripbsed, the bird, turning * Wilson, Amer, Oroitb. i. 15. * »2 * HABITS OF BIRJDS. her head backward to her rump, with her hiH catches hold of the fore- named tuft, and pressing the glandules, forces out the oily pap, and therewithal anointing the disjoined parts of the feathers, and drawing them out with her bill, recomposes and places them in due order, and causes them to stick faster together*." " The glands which secrete the oil," says Blumenbach, "on the upper part of the tail, are largest in aquatic birds ; in some of which, as the Muscovy duck (Anas moschata), the secreted substance has a musk-like odour t>" The statement just given from Willughby is adopted by most of the systematic writers, though a few of them take no notice whatever of the existence of the rump glands. " On the back," we are told by Linnaeus, " or upper surface of the rump, there are two glands which secrete an oily fluid, with which the birds anoint their feathers J," " The lower part of the back/' says Dr. Latham, " is furnished with a double gland, secreting an oily fluid for the use of dressing the feathers §." The recent authors who adopt this opinion woul4 appear, from their taking no notice of them, to be unacquainted with the observations of M* Reaumur, which we shall abstract. The glands on the rump, he remarks, secrete an unctuous fluid, discharged in some birds by one, and in others by two excretory canals. Poultry have but one of these canals, which consists of a conical fleshy pipe of a series of rings, placed almost perpendicular to the rump ; and when this gland is pressed by the Angers, the fluid, thickish in consistence, is seen to exude. But in a peculiar species of barn-door fowls, without • Ray's Willughby, p. 3. f Comp. Anat. by Lawrence aud Coulaon, p, 147* J Ker's Linnaeus, p. 409. § General History of Birds, i. 22. CLHANLINIiStl. i tails fOdUid ecaudatus, 'Temmwck), originally it would appear from Ceylon *, the tail, the rump, and the gland are all wanting, the part where these grow in other species being depressed and smooth Rumkia or Ttil-Iou Cook. Were an attempt made t& assign a reason Why these Ceylonese fowls have no unctuous gland oil the rump, a mistake might as readily be committed as has, it would appear, been done in the theory framed to account for the use of the gland in birds' which possess it. All the Works of nature bein£ lavishly filled with wonders, fitted to raise most just admiration of the Creator, those who. With very laudable intentions, undertake to exhibit these wun- t, Hirt. dw Pig, et Gall. ii. 267. ft HABITS OF BIRDS. ders, may be considered as in some degree blameable when they introduce .into their enumeration circum- stances that are vague and uncertain. Among such doubtful things appears to be the opinion that the feathers of birds require to be done over with a kind of oil or grease, in order to cause the rain or other water to run off without penetrating them, the unction, when wanted, being supplied by the gland on the ramp. If those who adopt this opinion, plausible as % it seems to be, had taken the trouble to ascertain the small quantity of fluid actually secreted by this gland from day to day, and compared it with the proportional extent of surface constituted by the assemblage of the numberless feathers of any particular bird, not to speak of the instrument with which the dressing is said to be effected, they would have seen at once that the theory is untenable, as the quantity secreted in one day would scarcely suffice to anoint a single feather, much less the whole. ' We have just squeezed out all the oil contained in the double rump gland of a com- mon wren, and found it impossible to make it go over one of the tail feathers*. " One fact/' says M. "Le VaiUant, " is frequently sufficient to demolish a theory t;" and the fact that the feathers of the rumpless fowls which have no gland are as smooth and proof against rain as those which possess the gland, furnishes a striking illustration of the remark. The fact, however, is unquestionable that birds are sometimes seen pecking about the gland in question. But the observing of a bird thus en- gaged, so far from authorizing the received conclu- sion, might have shown that the point of the bill could never squeeze out enough of fluid for the pur- pose alleged. The only legitimate inference would have been that some slight pain or irritation had caused the bird to peck the gland ; and every school * J. &. t Hist. Nat. dw Pemwuets, u 20, CLEANLINESS, 7 boy knows that the canal of this gland often be** comes obstructed in his pet birds, and occasions a troublesome and sometimes fatal engorgement *. The remark of Blumenbach f that the gland is largest in aquatic birds, contains a generalization not warranted by facts ; for grebes, divers, and such as want tails, have the glanjl much smaller J, though their feathers are as smooth and as impenetrable by water as those of the terns and the gulls which have considerable tails. It is only requisite, indeed, for any one to watch a bird preening its feathers, to be convinced of the fal- lacy of the theory. We have attended for hours to various species of birds when thus engaged ; and so far from constantly returning to the rump-gland, which by the hypothesis would be indispensable for dressing every successive feather, it is rarely visited at all during the operation, and when it is, the sole object seems to be to trim the pencil of feathers which surrounds the gland §. Had we any doubts upon the subject, the simple experiment of covering the gland in one hen or duck so as to prevent the bird having access to it, and leaving it uncovered in another, for a few days or weeks, would, by the state of the feathers in each, set the question at rest. Independently of such an experiment, common to all birds, the circumstance of the feathers on the head being equally trim, smooth, and glossy with those on the body, though they cannot be oiled, as it is impos- sible to reach the head with the bill — the only instru- ment by which the oil could be applied— is of itself fatal to the theory. Should we be asked what we consider to be the use of the gland, we must at once say that we do * Rlaumur, Oiseaux Domestiqnes, ii. 332. f See p. 4, $ Raj's WUlu$hby, p. 3. i J. R. S HABITS OF BIRDS. not know; but our ignorance of its real use .fui£ nishes no support to the conjectural theory which, the preceding facts prove tp be , erroneous, no less than some others connected witti cleanliness which we shall now mention. 1 . ., -,..,. v. The Moharh medan Arabs of the desert, when tHe£ cannot procure water to perforin the stated ablutions enjoined by the Ijbran, Haye recourse tp drv sancL with which they rub their bodies as a substitute* \ aria it is no doubt as. a substitute for washing thai some bird's, thence called pulverizers. (Fulvindfores), are fond pf squatting .in. dust and Hustling; it into their feathers. Caged larks ma^ thus be seen rubbini their breasts amongst ttie dry mould at the side of their withered turf with the utmost eagerness. j A hasty observer might perhaps be led to conclude that this was done with the design of looking for insects: but the eye of the bird directed away from the jspot and expressive of inward pleasure, would show hini that such a conjecture could not be supported,. A iriorei familiar instance of pulverizing ijiay be observed in, the barri-dbor fowl, even the„ unfledged chipk^ns of which we have observed muddling in the dust by in- stinct, it should seeni, as they were top young to have learned the practice from experience or by imitation. Now, had the feathers of these pulverizers been pre- viously smeared with any unctuous matter, such as that in the rump-gland, the dust would have adhered, and thus tended to soil rather than to cleanse them, fhe design with which these birds hustle amongst dust is supposed to be to suffocate or banish the bird- lice (Nirmi) y with which most birds are infested ; . on the same principle as swine wallow in the mire, and as the rhinoceros and elephant in Nubia roll themselves in mud to defend themselves from the terrible breeze * Voloey, Egypt and Syria, vol* ii. CLEANLINESS* H fly called zitnb *. Be this as it may, we have not ob- served birds, after pulverizing, employed in combing the dust out of their feathers with their bills ; they seem, on the contrary, to prefer its remaining. This curious subject may be illustrated by a cir- cumstance observed by the traveller just quoted, in an eagle (Gypaetos barbatus, Storr) which he shot in Abyssinia. " Upon laying hold," says he, " of his monstrous carcass, I was not a little surprised at seeing my hands covered and tinged with yellow powder or dust On turning him upon his belly and examining the feathers of his back, they also produced a dust, the colour of the feathers there. This dust was not in small quantities; for, upon striking the breast, the yellow powder flew in full greater quantity than from a hair-dresser's powder- puff. The feathers of the belly and breast, which were of a gold colour, did not appear to have any- thing extraordinary in their formation ; but the large feathers in the shoulder and wings seemed appa- rently to be fine tubes, which, upon pressure, scat- tered this dust upon the finer part of the feather ; but this was brown, the colour of the feathers of the back. Upon the side of the wing, the ribs or hard part of the feathers seemed to be bare, as if worn ; or, I rather think, were renewing themselves, having before failed in their functions. What is the rea- son of this extraordinary provision of nature, it is not in my power to determine. As it is an unusual one, it is probably meant for a defence against the climate, in favour of birds which live in those almost inaccessible heights of a country doomed, even in its lowest parts, to several months' excessive rain f." A powdering of dust, however, we may remark in reference to this conjecture, would seem to be a bad protection against a heavy shower. * Brace's Travels* t Travels, Appendix, p. 155. ib HAfiiTS of tilkbs. A great pumber of birds are fond of washing theij plumes, by throwing water over thenl with their beaks, ana even dipping their bodies in ponds or streams. So universal is this, habit, that it is talced advantage of on the Continent to entrap wild , birds by means of what is called an j& breuvoir. "No- thing," says M. Bechstein, " can b.e more agreeable, during the hot weather of summer, than the spdH thence arising, while seated tranquilly under the shade of thick foliage, py the side of a slow running" brook. According to the extent of the place, a net from three to six feet long, , by Ihree or four feet iri width, is extended over a rill which has been dug ex? pressly for conducting the water of the adjoining stream. A number ofrods, about an inch in diame- ter, are stuck in this rill upon a level with the water; where rings are fixed to prevent the net from bein£ wetted, — the remainder of the little, canal being C07 vered over with boughs.. When the place is well chosen it will be surrounded all day long, but par- ticularly early in the morning arid near sunset, the time for beginnjng to place the net being about the middle of July*. Mr. Knapp mentions. the linnet (Liiiaria Liriota) as the cleanliest of birds in this respect, — since it delights to dabble in the water and dress its pluniage in every rill that runs byf ; but we do not think the linnet washes more frequently than any of the other smaller birds (Sytvicola, Vieillot). 1'he linnet, the chaffinch, arid all the seed-eating birds, indeed. we have remarked to wash less frequently than the slender-billed birds (JSylviada, Vigors), to which washing seems almost as necessary as food and air. These are accordingly amongst the most frequent captures in the Abreuvoirs, as we learn from M, * Manuel de 1' Amateur, p. 67. 2d edit. f Journ. of a Naturalist, p. 154, 3d edit. fiech^teip ; and in water near their baqnts we see them every day assiduously bathing. jn confinement, again, Jhey wash mucji pftener than the seed-eaters. A redbreast, which we 'at present possess, will wash Maqy hour q$ the day or night when he is famished with' water, and his feathers are scarcely dry before . he ig eager tp renew his bath, which he would do, if pernij^ted, £ ojozen times a 'day; while a goldfinch jn a neighbouring cage does not qare aboyt washing ^bove Qnce'pr twice a week. A fine j)Iack-cap, which 13 also in pur possession, is nearly as fond of frequent gashing as the redbreast*. TM[r. §weet fijnds that when Lis more tender' birds are allowed tq wash as often as tjiey would do, particularly U} winter, it is apt to prove injurious, and sometimes fatal f. " One pf the most remarkable propensities t{ia$ manifest themselves in young birds,'* says the l}on. jtpd Kev. ^./Herbert, "is the ardent desire of washing themselves, in some species, and of dusting themselves, in others, as for instance in the common » jnreij. This, I conceive, must be an instinctive incite- nient. J\ is' barely possible that the little wrens niight see through the aperture of tjieir covered nest the parents Ousting themselves on the ground in some instances ; but' their nests are often p|aced Sphere this could, not be perceived, and the desire is equally powerful in all individuals. On the other Ijand, the nests of the wood-wren and many others which wash themselves eagerly on the first opportu- nity that presents itself after they can feed themselves, coujd never Jiave seen the like, their nest having been situated under the roots of a tree upon a dry bank in a wood. . "[fhis impulse is, therefore, inspired by the Creafor ; pnd it is inspired with a force that in cap- tjyjty is like unto madness. It is very injurious t9 $ ♦J.R. > £^ritish^arblers,£ajfitn. Ifr BAfelTf Or BIRDS. nightingale to wash in the winter, and it is fatal to it to, do so often ; yet the moment a pan of water is put into its cage, it rushes into the water and soaks itself, and then stands shivering the very image of chilliness and despair; yet will it eagerly repeat the operation, if allowed to do so, every day till it dies. Young whinchats, sedge-warblers, wood- wrens, yellow wrens, &c. as soon as they can feed themselves, if offered water in a cage, wash with similar avidity; yet if the temperature be much tinder 70°, and the sun not shining, it is sure to kill them. In the younger birds it produces, some hours after and perhaps the next day, a sudden stroke of palsy, by which they drop with a scream, having lost the use of one or both legs, and often with the mouths distorted. In this state the general health does not seem to be affected, but if both legs are paralysed, they must soon perish. At a little more advanced age, the consequence of a single washing in cool weather is epileptic fits, which are repeated at shorter intervals till they occasion death. In a state of liberty the bird would dry itself quickly by rubbing against the leaves and by very active motion, in the same manner as the wrens by perpetual activity resist the severest frost, of which the least attack would kill them in confinement ; and probably when birds have opportunities of washing always at hand, they choose the most favourable moments. In a cage it is neces- sary to give such birds their water in a very narrow- mouthed fountain, to prevent their killing themselves by washing. They will repeat it with equal eagerness, if not prevented, until they die, so strong is the inward impulse. I think the desire of washing belongs most strongly to the birds which migrate to hotter climates in winter, that of dusting to those which; remain with us ; a substitution wise as all the dis- cleanlihbss. it pensations of the Creator; for if the Tittle wren in winter were to wash in cold water instead of dusting, it must perish from the chill *." The largest birds of prey are no less fond of wash- ing, though they care so little for water to drink that it has been erroneously asserted they never drink. " What I observed," says the Abbe* Spallanzani, " is that eagles when left even for several months without water did not seem to suffer the smallest inconvenience from the want of it; but when they were supplied with water, they not only got into the vessel and sprinkled their feathers like other birds, but repeat- edly dipped their beak, then raised their head in the manner of common fowls, and swallowed what they had taken up ; hence' it is evident that they drink. For the eagle it was necessary to set the water iu a large vessel, otherwise, by its attempts to drink, the vessel was sure to be overturned f." In books of falconry also directions are given for furnishing the birds with water to bathe. " Having weaned your hawk," says Willughby, " from her ramageness, she being both ways lured, throughly reclaimed, and likewise in good case, offer her some water to bathe herself in, in a. basin, wherein she may stand up to the thighs, choosing a temperate, clear day for that purpose. Having lured your hawk and rewarded her with warm meat, in the morning carry her to some bank, and there hold her in the sun till she hath endued her gorge, taking off her hood that she may preen and prick herself: that being done, hood her again and set her near the basin, and taking off her hood, let her bathe as long as she pleases; after this take her up, and let her pick herself as before, and then feed her. If she refuse * Notes to White's Selbome, Letter 12, edit. 8vo. 1832. f Dissertations, r. 173. c H HA .9K5 OF Biltps. the basjn to bathe ip, show her spme small river Q? brook for that purpose. t$y tjlis use, of bathing sue gains strength and a sjiarp appetite, and thereby grows bp|d ; but that day wherein she batneth give her no washed meat. Jf you would make your falcon upwards, the next day after she {lath bathed get on horseback, either in the morning or evening, and choose out some field where jn are no rooks or pigeons ; then take your lure well garnished on both fides, and having unhooded your hawk, give her a bit or two on the lure, then hood her ; afterwards go leisurely against tjie wind, then utihood her, and before she bate or find any check in her eye, whistle, her ojf frorp your fist fair and softly* ? Did these birds require to oil their feathers after every washing, an irnmensely larger gland than any of them are furnished with, would be indispensable to supply the requisite quantity; while \\ would pre7 vent their feathers frqm being wetted at a|l, though this seems to be their aim jri the operation, for the purpose, amongst otfier things, of getting rid of parasite insects. The Jiead, foowever, which they cannot reach with their bill, and which cannot there- fore be daubed with the oil, is the most liable to be thus infected; and accordingly we often see cage birds content themse]yes with wetting their heads, without touching the rest of the body, !fhey may also be frequently seen combing or scratching their heads with their claws, no doubt with a similar Resign. This circumstance has given rise to a curious discussion concerning the intended use of \\ie cjaws of some species, among which are the nightjar pnd the herons, that are furnished with small t^eth like a saw or comt). ' * Ornithology, hy Ray, p. 402. * Wilson remarked that lii specimens which he pro- cured* of the night-heron (Ngcticordx EuroptEus; STEpiifess), the middle claws, serrated oil thej inside with from thirty-flee to forty teeth, contained " parti- cles of the down of the bird, showing; evidently from PMlimltddair oi II HABITS 07 BIRDS. this circumstance that they act the part of a comb, to rid the bird of vermin in those parts which it cannot reach with its bill *." With respect to the night-jars Wilson gives a similar statement. His night-hawk, for instance, he says, has its "middle claw pecti- nated on its inner edge, to serve as a comb to clear the bird of vermin f." Again he says, " the inner edge of the middle claw of the whip-poor-will, another of the night-jars, is pectinated ; and from the circum- stance of its being frequently found with small por- tions of down adhering to the teeth, is probably em- ployed as a comb to rid the plumage of its head of vermin, this being the principal and almost only part so infested in all birds j." He further proves this in the case of the Carolina night-jar, or chuck-will's- widow, by actual observation of the fact ; speaking of which species he says, " reposing much during the heats of the day, tbey are much infested with cleAnliness. 17 vermin, particularly about the Head, and are provided with a comb oh the inner edge of the middle claw, with which they are often employed in ridding them- selves of these pests when in a state of captivity*. White, of Selborne, oh Ihe other hand (with whose account Wilson does not seem to have been acquainted j,' W&s persuaded that the serratiires in tHe claw of the European night-jar were designed to eriable it to secure beetles {Zantheu)nia solstittdtis^ &c), oil wHich he observed it preying. " The circumstance," fie says, *' that pleased me most Was, that I saw it distihcily, morfe than once, put out its short leg wlien on the wing, and, by a bend of the head, deliver somewhat into its moutH. If it takes any part of its prey with its foot, as I have now the greatest reason to suppose it dbes these chafers. I no longer wonder di tHe use of its middle toe, Which is curiously fur- nish eel with a serrated clawf." Mr. Dillon has re- cently argiied with considerable plausibility against this cdrijeeture of White's, considering the chief use of the Serrated claw to be the combing or dressing the bristlfes (VipritefB). tor this purpose, he thinks the entire rh&chanism of the leg, foot, toe, and claw, adapted with wonderful precision; while for the seiz- ing of beetles there does not appear the least suit ibility. The middle toe, he says, compared with the ftifift-jar'i foot, thowing the pectinated olaw. • Wilson, Amer. Ornith. vi. 97, 2d e HABITS OP BIRDS. perching on the head and pecking 1 out the eyes. In temperate climates, birds that prey on carrion are less necessary as scavengers than in tropical countries, where flocks of vultures collect together from dis- tances that have astonished all observers by whom the circumstance is recorded. The gregariousness of these birds, however, may be plausibly referred to the wise care of Providence to have offensive carcasses speedily removed ; and it is manifestly with this design, that such birds are endowed with ex- tremely acute senses, either of vision or of smell, probably both, so as to enable them to discover carrion afar off. This is well exemplified in two species, which have been frequently confounded, the Turkey buzzard (Catharista aura. Vie ill ot) and the black vulture (C. Urubuy Vieillot), both of which are looked upon as so useful that there is a considerable penalty for killing them. The former, indeed, as we learn from M. Descourtilz, is at Charleston commonly called by the name of Five pounds, from the amount of the penalty. "These birds," he adds, "are thus re- spected for the actual services which they render in re- moving from the city and its vicinity all dead animals and other garbage upon which they exclusively feed. Hence, if even a chicken die, it is not long before its bones are picked clean. The vultures are occupied the whole day in making their rounds to discover carrion and offal, and, coming down in legions, they mutually contend for the prey, which instantly disap- pears. They are so familiar that they may easily be knocked down with a stick. I had a great desire to procure a specimen in this way ; but I was not disposed to pay five louis d'or of penalty*." "The great number of these birds" (C. Urubu), says Ulloa, " found in such hot climates, is an excellent * Voyages (Tun Naturaliste, i.244. ■OLITABY AMD GBEOABIOBI. Turkey BDiurd mnd Blick Vulture. 'provision of nature; as otherwise, the putrefaction caused by the constant and excessive heat would render the air insupportable to human life. These birds are familiar in Carthsgena ; the tops of the houses are covered with them : it is they who cleanse the city of all its animal impurities. Then are few a£ Habits oJ iinHk animals killed whereof they do not obtain the offals ; and when this food is wanting, they have recourse to other garbage. , Their sense of smelling is so acute, that it enables them to trace carrion at the distance of three or four leagues ; which they do not abandon till there remains nothing but the skeleton*." The following account of the same bird is in Wilson's best manner. It is dated Hampstead, near Charles- ton, Feb. 21, 1809. " A horse, had dropped down in the street in con- vulsions, and dying, it was dragged out to Hamp- stead and skinned. The ground for a hundred yards, around it was black with carrion crows; many §&t on the tops of sheds, fences, and houses withiri .sight; sixty or eighty on the opposite side of d small rlih. I counted at one time two hundred arid thirty- sfevfen, but I believe there were more, besides several in* ine air over my head, and at a distance. I ventured cautiously within thirty yards of thfc carcass; whetS three or four dogs and twenty or thiriy vultures wfcre busily tearing and devouring. Seeing ihehH take no notice I ventured nearer, till I wa§ ivithitt. tetl yards, and sai down on the bank. Still thejf paid little attehtioii to the. thfe dogs being sBhiS- tim'es accidentally flapped with the wiri£s of the' villi tureg; would growl and snap at them, which wbiild occasion them to spring up for a moment; but tn§y immediately gathered in again. I rema'rked; the vultures frequently attack each other, fighting with their claws or heels, striking like a eock, with open wings, and fixing their claws in each other's head. •f he females', and I believe' the males likewise, made a hissing sodhd, with open mouth, exactly resem- bling that produced by thrusting a red-hot poker into water; and frequently a snuffling, like a dog clearing his nostrils, as, I suppose, they were theirs. * Voyage ; Hist, de l'Amer, Meria. i. 52, 4to, Amst,, 1752. SOLITARY AND GREGARIOUS. 99 On observing that they did not heed me I stole so close that my feet were within one yard of the horse's legs, and again sat down. They all slid aloof a few feet; but seeing me quiet, they soon re- turned as before. As they were often disturbed by the dogs, I ordered the latter home ; my voice gave no alarm to the vultures. As soon as the dogs departed, the vultures crowded in such numbers* that I counted at one time thirty-seven on and around the carcass, with several within ; so that scarcely an inch of it was visible. Sometimes one would come out with a large piece of the entrails, which, in a moment, was surrounded by several others, who tore it in fragments, and it soon disappeared. They kept up the hissing occasionally. Some of them, having their whole legs and heads covered with blood, presented a most savage aspect. Still, as the dogs advanced, £ would order them away, which seemed to gratify the vultures ; and one would pursue ano- ther to within a foot or two of the spot where I was sitting. Sometimes I observed them stretching their necks along the ground, as if to press the food downwards*." These appear to be the same birds described by Acosta, under the name of Poullazes, which, as he tells us, " have a surprising agility and a piercing eye, and are very useful for clearing cities, not suf- fering the least vestige of carrion or putrid matter to remain. They spend the night upon trees and rocks, and resort to the towns in the morning, perch- ing upon the tops of the highest buildings, whence they look out for their plunderf." We shall only add to these accounts that of M. Desmarchais, who strangely supposes the C. aura to be a sort of turkey, that, instead of living upon grain, had become accus- tomed to feed on carrion. " These birds," he adds,. * Amer, Ornith. ix. 107, f Quoted by Buffon, S1 liABlTS OF BIRDS. c< follow the hunters, especially those whose object is only to procure the skins ; these people neglect the carcasses, which would rot on the spot, and infect the air, but for the assistance of these birds, which iib sooner perceive a flayed body, than they call to each otHer and pour upon it like vultures, and in an instant devour trie flesh, and leave the bones as clear as if they Had been scraped with a knife, 'the Spaniards; who are settled upon the large islands^ and upon ttie continent, as well as the Pbriugiiese; iyhb irihabit those tracts where' they traffic in hides,' receive great benefit from these birds, by their de-^ vouring the dead bodies and preventing infection ; and therefore they impose a fine upon those who 1 destroy them. This protection has extremely multi- plied this disgusting kind of turkey*/' But it may be remarked, that in all the accounts given of these gregarious vultures, nothing is said of their appointing a sentinel like the mountain-sheep, or like several species of birds to which we shall preseriily attend. For this, hbwever; there is the obvious reason, that the vultures Have no formidable enemies, being protected by man to serve lite con- venience, besides that, like the mole, ttiey seem to tie too disgusting to be preyed iipori by any anirHal. dttie colonists^ indeed; have tried every device td render; the flesh palatable ; but though they have cut off the rump arid extracted the entrails, the instant the' bird's have been killed they still retaitt an insupport- able odour of carrion which tibthingtbah remove f: I'his is not ail ; forthey have also a singular manner df defending themselves if they happen to be attacked. " A mari in the fetate of Delaware/' says Afr: Ord, " a Few years since, observing sbme Turkey blizzard^ regaling themselves upon the carcass of a horse, which was in a highly putrid state, conceived tfife * Quoted by Buffon. f Desmarchais, da oimc* SOLITf J}T ^Nfl CfRlfGfBlOUS. ^ desigp of ppaking a cap^tiye of one, {o tak$ }iome fop ffle ainusement of his children, fie caufious^y, group, grasped a fine p»ump fellow in jiis arms, anq was bearing off Jus prize in triumph, when, }p J thq indignant vujture disgorged such a forrent of plffi }n the fape of our hero as for ever cured him of fii^ inclination for turkey buzzards*/ Pther gregarious f>irds, however, may }>e obseryeo) always to jiave a sentinel stationed near them while feeding, whose office it is to give timely alarm of threatening danger or in creations of its approach, Iff jien a fjocjc of sparrows, accordingly, a|ight in the pprger of a wheat-fieic), and, as I}loomfie|d says, — u Drop one by one upon the bending corn f," • • ». . wg may always be cerfain of discovering one, or per- haps several, perched on some commanding station, jli tbe adjacent hedge-row, pfying into tjie probably design of every movement among men or animals whicf} lies within k en 9* tfte watch-tower. The jnstant f|ie sentinel perceives anything wnicji h$ deems worthy of notice, he gives his well-known signal, aji which the whole flock hurry off from their banquet witli \\ie utmost celerity and trepidation. Their fears are, for the, most part, only momentary, for as soon as they ascertain f}iat there is no im- mediate danger, they hasten J^ack ip finish their meal. Sparrows, wjpch are denizens of towns and cities act much in toe same manner, though tney are forced jo learn to |>e, jfpossibje, more quick anoj 1 cautious \han (heir rural kindred of t|ie farm-yards. ' ^*he city sparrows! abundant in the very centre of the metro* pohs. seldom congregate m very numerous nocks, * Amer. Ornith. ix. 98. t Farmer Boy, 3* ' HABIT! OF BIHDS. ' and are more commonly observed in foraging pfcrtfea of from two to half-a-dozen, subsistin^-in the Wore open streets on what they can find on the pavements, and particularly haunting stables, to pick up oats and grass-seeds shaken from hay. We have watched by the hour the devices of these sparrows to avoid being surprised by boys or by cats. When they discover a scattering of oats, they seldom fly di- rectly to the spot, but take several turns around it as if to ascertain the safest point of approach. '■ If it is near the wall they will cling, with their backs downwards, to rough projections of the mortar/ or to an accidental crevice between the bricks, looking round the while with the utmost caution ; and thus will they descend the wall, by little and little, till within a few feet of their wished-for prize, upon which they will pounce down, one or more at a time, and carry off a mouthful to the nearest roof where they can eat it in leisure and safety. But what we par- ticularly wish to call attention to is, that though each individual of a party manifests such extraordinary caution, they have usually the farther safeguard of a sentinel stationed on some adjacent projection of a roof-lead or a window, who fails not to announce to his companions below the approach of every pas- senger, and particularly of every cat that endeavours to steal upon them unawares*. From all we have been able to observe, there does not seem to be anything like an election or appoint- ment of such sentinels. The fact appears rather to be, that, probably from being less impelled by the calls of hunger, the bird of the flock who chances to be the last in venturing to alight, feels then reluctant to join his companions in consequence of an instinctive foresight that they might all be thence exposed to * J.B. SOLITARY AND 6RB0ARI0US. $2 danger. We only offer this, however, as a plausible conjecture, which appears more applicable to the case of sparrows than to that of some other gregarious birds. Were we disposed, indeed, to indulge in the fancies sometimes found in books of natural history, we might give the sparrows credit not only for ap- pointing sentinels, but for trying them for neglect of duty by a regular court-martial. Sparrow-courts, or assemblies of sparrows for some common object regarding one of their com- munity, are of frequent occurrence ; and in truth they can scarcely escape the observation of any one who attends to the habits of animals. The birds usually select a spot somewhat remote from their usual haunts, such as the centre of a copse or the edge of a wood, where they may be seen crowding closely around one of this number, and scolding htm in all the terms of their vocabulary. Whether they proceed from verbal reproof, however, to corporal chastisement, we have never ascertained, for they are so jealous, on such occasions, of intruders, that they immediately stay process and break up their court, should a prying naturalist venture within the pre- cincts. Descriptions precisely analogous have been given by different authors of assemblies of rooks, or crow-courts, as they are called. In the latter, how- ever, if we may believe what is reported, there is a regular trial of a delinquent, who, upon being found guilty, receives a severe drubbing from the whole court, and is even sometimes killed outright*. Pliny reports something similar to this as occur- ring among storks. " There is a place/* he says, " in the open plains and champaign country of Asia Pithonas-Come, where (by report) they assemble altogether, and, being met, keep up a jangling one with another ; but, in the end, look which of them ♦ Landt, Description of tbe Feroe Isles. If HABITS OF BIFBS. Jagged behind and came tardy,-?-him they tear in pieces, and then depart 11 ." It is not improbable, we think, that this legend (for it can be nothing more) of the crow -courts haa originated in the quarrels which take place when rooks are building their nests t, in consequence of their propensity to pilfer. In such cases, as Goldsmith records from his own observation, " thefts never go unpunished; and probably, upon complaint being made, there is a general punishment inflicted: I have seen," he adds, " eight or ten rooks come, upon such occasions, and setting upon the new nest of the young couple, all at once tear it in pieces in a mo- ment. Such is the severity with which even native rooks are treated; but if a foreign rook should attempt to make himself a denizen of their society, he would meet with no favour; the whole grove would at once be up in arms against him and expel him without mercy J." Rooks, if We may judge from our own observation, tra more particular even than sparrows in the cir- cumstance of having sentinels while they are feeding in parties after the breeding season ; for while pro- Tiding for their young family, they, in general, cater apart These rook sentinels are so vigilant, 'that it is by no means easy to get within shot of a foraging party ; and hence it is popularly believed that rooks can smell gunpowder. We have often proved, 'however, that it is just as difficult to approach them without alarming the sentinels, when only carrying an umbrella as when armed with a fowling-piece; but that they seem to have some knowledge of fire- arms appears from their being alarmed if a walking- stick is levelled at them,- though no noise is made,— * Holland's Plinie, x. 23. f See Architecture of Birds, p. 219* I Animated Nature, iii» 168* SOLITAkV and dftB&AfelOUS. 3# a knowledge most probably acquired by the reite- rated experience of having their nest-trees fired at when the young are fit to be made into pies. It is stated in some accounts of newly-discovered countries, that the birds were not at first frightened by the pre- sentment of a fowling-piece, but soon became so aftfer some experience of its effects. We also think it not unlikely that the crows acquire part of the skilful vigilance which they exhibit as sentinels during the building of their nests, when one 1 of a pair usually watches the nest while the other makes excursions to procure materials*. Our observations by no means bear out what is recorded of rooks being so determined to keep their associates together, that " if a pair offer to build on a separate tree, the nest is plundered and de- molished at oncef." On the contrary, we do not recollect ever observing a rookery without seeing one or more nests on detached trees, Sometimes at some little distance from the main establishment. * In the tookery at Lee there were, in the summer of 1831, two such nests, each on a detached tree, which, we are certain, were not molested during the season J. The sentinels of gregarious birds were observed by the ancients, and legends told of them no less exaggerated than those of our modern crow-courts. The crane, in this respect, the most celebrated bird among the ancients, was placed, by Aristotle, at the head of gregarious birds § ; and Festus, the grammarian, is of opinion that the words congruous and similar derivatives are from Grues, the Latin name (C?rtw) of the crane ||. u The cranes," says Aristotle, * J. R. f Bingley, Anirm Biog. ii. 240. % J. R. § Hist. Anim. viii. 12. I) c< Coiigruere," says Festus, " quasi ut grues conveutere."i- De Signification© Verbontm> ex Verio Flacco. *3 HABITS OF BIRDS, as we may translate the passage, " have a leader, as well as sentinels placed in their rear rank, so that their alarm-call may be heard*." Pliny gives a still more minute detail of their proceedings. Speaking of their migration, he says, "They put not them- selves in their journey) nor set forward without a counsel called before, and a general consent. They flie aloft, because they would have a better prospect to see before them ; and for this purpose a captain they chuse to guide them, whom the rest follow In the rereward behind, there be certain of them • Hut. Anim. ix. 10, SOLITABT kJM (Jn«»ARlOUS. «f set and disposed to give signal by ttajr manner of cry, for to range orderly in ranks, ami keep close together in array: and this they do bjr turns each one in his cotifle* They maintain a set watch all the night long, and have their sentinels. These stand On one foot, and hold a little stone within the* othwf*' which by falling from it, if they should chance to sleep, might awaken them, and reprove them for the*? negligence. Whiles these watch, all the rest sleep, couching their heads under their wings ; and one while they rest on the one foot and otherwhiled they sllift to the other. The captain beareth up his head aloft into the air, and giveth signal to the *tsfc what is to be done* " Tfee old grammarian, Johannes Tzetzes, has ren* derSd this story into Greek verse; and the historian, i^nakftius Marcellinus, tells us, that in imitation of their ingenuity, to ensure vigilance, Alexander the Great was accustomed to rest with a silver ball in hid htihd? suspended over a brass bason, which, if h6 begati tti sleep, might fall and awaked himf. The golden plover (Charddriw pluvidLi*\ Tem«* biihck) is another bird celebrated for setting a watch. Longolius says these birds are so attached to society, that a single bird is never seen|. Belon gtvtfe a fninute account of their proceeding whirjft tfe' shttll translate; " The plovers," sajrs he, " tail to orfie another it day- break, whistling in 4 manner sftnilar to that of a man, and answering to the 9 word Mrt6: The peasants, .hearing this, try the neit day to tifitfcover a cdvey ; for the plovet by day remain^ frt 'society, but at the approach of riight strays from to flbck, and on the following moniitig his fcotri- J^niotis are scattered about at a quartet or tifilf * lTI , . . * Holland's Plinie, x. 2& \ Apud Aldrovandi Ornith. Hi. 137. $ Apud Aldrovatidi, iii, 206. £3 42 HABITS OF finU>S. league's distance from each other. There % on* an the flocjs who is looked upon and acknowledged ras master, or king. His Toice is louden than the others, «nd well-known, and is their signal for congregating. The* peasants name htm the caller, and pretend to extinguish him by his notes being longer than those of -the rest • At his rising he utters a cry resembling The bien huit. The peasants on the frontiers, who go in bands, assemble in the evening, where they have heard the king plover, and where they may find him *at dawn ; and having set out before day, some here and home there, scattering themselves about over the corn lands, they wait till day-break, and when they hear the whistle of the king, which may be heard* ut a league's distance, calling his company together, they -make straight towards him, being certain -that the whole covey will repair to the same place. The plover is not so early a bird as the partridge; the lark, or the lapwing ; but rises soon after dawn. And when the plovers of the flock have heard the- notes of their ca)ler they immediately hasten to him* If fcy chance, also, two flocks are upon the plain, and mixed together, the plovers will distinguish the cries of their king and make towards him. When day nppears the peasants assemble, and report to each other what they have heard, and resolve what they shaft do. Then the company depart, marching 4n battle .'array and keeping the same road. But when they approach the spot where the plovers are en- camped, they spread into an arch or crescent, and an they advance attentively look before them to ascertain all they can of the covey which is around its caller. Each 'peasant carries a long pole, and one or two among them bear the 'harnois/or net, to take the plovers, which they have observed in the level plain. And the peasants knowing that plovers are ex- ceedingly timid, stretch the net as near them as they SOLITARY A!fT> GMMULftlOUS. 4$ oaki« > Whilst (one of them is busy about this, the rest «r4>spread behind on all sides, and creep upon their bellies as near to - them as possible ; and when they perceive that the vet is laid and that the peasant is Heady to draw it, they quickly stand upright, raise a about and throw their sticks into the air to scare the plovers* And when he who holds the net open sees them approach, he lets go his cord, and encloses them beneath* The peasants cast their sticks into the air, to frighten the plovers and make them fly close to the ground, in order that they may take them in their lists ; for the plovers are exceedingly quick. But if the covey rise high in flight they will not take one of them*/' i "Authors also tell us that the quails have a king to erinchict- their migrations ; and it is further pretended shift they are shrewd enough not to • select for a monarch one from their own body, but make choice of. a land-rail (Ortygomebra Crex) ; for upon com- Hlg» to their place of destination, the first of the band bsuallyfalls a victim to some bird of prey that is bmiting their arrival, and foreseeing this the quails -contrive to provide a victim from another species. {Stack ^legends, as Bufftra well remarks, by ascribing incredible sagacity and design to birds, give us good ^roouDito doobt whether the authors themselves pos- se^MOaj great share f. As the land-rail, however, nrigrsteti about the same period with the quails, this is< not 'quite so extravagant a notion as that recorded by Aristotle, that the quails are led by an owl (Qto*) J, as their king. 1-1 M. Vaillant remarks, that the idea of these king* birds seems to have originated from the casual ob- servation of a strange species among a flock of gre- * Belon, Oyseanx, p. 261, fol. Paris, 1535. t Oisttux, Art. I** Caille. % Hist, Antra, viii. 12. - 44 mmtMu*viw*tor gaddus* birds. Tims the Dmriinicaii wSfcw bird {Frinplla formfa, Ii^iger) is at the (Jape caBe#the king of the Bengal sparrows (Paxrtr Bengalensis^ Baisaow), and of the wax-biHed inches {FrihgUla Undklutdt Pallas). VaTHaa* ©rice observe*! a few crossbills (hoxia curvirostra) in the kingfs garden*, at Paris; intermingling with other gregarious birds/ These being uncommon birds were very likely itt> attract popular attention, and give rise to the fane/ x of their being royal birds. He onee* akfc observed £7 field-fare (Turdus pilaris), which having strayed from its companions and associated with starlings) , was called king of. the sterlings by the peasants df Sezaune, in La Brie*. It is in this waf thai M. Vaillant accounts for the origin of the nama of the king-bird of Paradise (Paradisea regia)i oC which so many legends are current in the islands Caius Mariua,** says Pliny, •' in his second con- sjilship, ordained that the legions of Roman soldiers Wily should hare the eagle for their standard, and no other ensign 'j for before- time the eagle marched foretao&l indeed, but in a ranke of four others, to wit of wolves, minotaurs, horses, and boars, which were borne each one before their own several squadrons and companies. Not many years past, the standard of the eagle alone began to be advanced into $fce field to battle, and the rest of the ensigns weif fefc behind in the camp \ but Marius rejected theft J^g^her »»d had no use of them at all. An$ fYfr fince this \9 observed ordinarily, that there waj no standing camp or leaguer wintered at any tyW HJftho,uJt * pair of eagle standard* J." jto^ephwi and Pliny, however, were wrong if ftejj ^ojftght the ensign of the eagle peculiar to *fc$ Romans ; fojr the golden eagle with extended V&ngs w^ borne hy the Persian monarch* §, from W^ora, it i* probable the Romans adopted it, aa § »$* *»toe^uentW adopted from them by Napoleon m t!\e If nited states ; while the Persians them- *m& B*aj fea^e. borrowed the symbol from the anfeiea^ j|tS£yitagia, ^ w h°* e fanners & waved till Babylon was jono^ujied hY Cyrus. This m*y serve to explain why the expanded eagle is so frequently * Josephus, De Bello Judico, in. 5. f Ornithologia, i. 10, J HeOaatfi Plinie, z. 4. $ Xeaophon, Cyropwcn*, viU 48 -.p. <«***» (W BI*B8. . »Huded to in ths prophetical books «f Scripture *. &eferring, for esample, -to the king of Babylon, ■ Hosea says, " be -shall «ow. h mi eaglet;" und Eaekiel describes Nebuchadnezzar as " a great eagle, with, great wings, long- winged, .full of feathers which had divers colours;" and the king of Egypt as " another great eagle, with, great wings ami many feathers J." It was, up doubt* on the same aetfOunt that the eagle was assigned in the ancient mytholo- gies as the bird of Jove, a notion which JLueian with his usual satire ridicules without merer, making Mouiua tell Jupiter he may think himself well offitf it do not take a fancy to build s nest on bis head & / So &r as size and appearance are concerned, u well SOLrtftftfr* AHD HftiftjfRIOUS. 49 a» im piwer of flight, the *&$e(Aquilk vktfMtto*, JLlbir^ must yield the palm to the condor of Ange- lica (Sartmumphu* gtfphui, DuMERifc), while the head of the latter, "the likeness of a kingly crown hefron" The condor, however, has not the honour of ranking among? eagles, being evidently, both from structure and habits, nothing but a vulture. '••' We can. readily understand why the least of our British birds, the gold-crested wren (Regulus cris- %atu»i Ray) should have been considered a royal -irird in most countries, from its having a One coronet of a bright gold colour on its head, as Aristotle cor- BHStly remarks *. But why the common wren (Anor- thura communis) should be called a king-bird we cannot conjecture, except it has been from irony or antiphrasis, in the same way as M. Hebert tells us it is called the ox (bwuf) in. some provinces of France. From being unable to account for the latter fact, Gesner, Willughby, and other naturalists acme Belon, Brisson, and Oliva, of confounding the t« species. To us, however, this charge appears §Jobndless, for Aristotle very clearly distinguishes tie two birds ; and yet he says the gold-crested one is called a king (ritpavvoi), and the common one (rpox^o9) also is called a magistrate and king (jrpea- fiv9 Kai /tafffXcw), " for which reason," he adds, ** the eagle is said to fight with itf" Independently of this authority, the popular titles given to the common wren, in most languages, by the peasants who know nothing of the disputes of naturalists, prove that there must be some cause for the term unconnected with any confusion of the species. For example, the Italians call it the little king (reattino), the king of the hedge (redi siepe), the king of the birds (re degli uccelli) ; the Spaniards, the kinglet, (rey- ezuelo); the Portuguese, the bird-king (ave rei); * Hist. Anim. viii. & t Ibid, ix; 2. F 90 HABITS OP BIRDS. the French the little ling (roUtlet), or Itlng-berry (rot-ferry), or the king of cold (rot de fhidttre) ; and the Germans, the snow-king (schnet-konig), and thorn-king (thurn-kSnig'). At the same time, we are aware that the gold-crested wren has obtained similar titles, such as in Italy the little pope (papas- zind) ; in Germany, the king-let (konigaheii) ; and in Sweden, king-bird fkongi-voget). We pretend not to account for the universal diffusion of the same notion, but it is must evident it does not arise from the mistake that has been supposed. JwtSnipe. It would appear to originate from the singularly solitary habits of the jack-snipe (Scolopax gallinula), that young sportsmen are disposed to take it for the male of the common snipe (S, gallinago), though it is so very different in size and even in plumage. " The jack-snipe," says Mr. Knapp, " is a solitary, unsocial bird, an anchorite from choice. With the exception of our birds of prey, the manner of whose existing requires it,, and a tew others, all S0UT41T AJtD GREGARIOUS. 61 the feathered tribe seem to have a general tendency towards association, either in flocks, family parties, or pairs ; but the individuals of this species pass a large portion of their lives retired arid alone, two of them being rarely, or, perhaps, never, found in com- pany, except in the breeding season. They are sup- posed to pair and raise their young in the deep marshy tracts or reedy districts of the fen -counties, which afford concealment from every prying eye, and safety from all common injuries. Driven by the frosts of winter from these watery tracts, their sum- mer's covert, they separate, and seek for food in more favoured situations, preferring a little, lonely open spring, trickliug from the side of a hill, tangled with grass and foliage, or some shallow, rushy streamlet in a retired valley. Having fixed on such a place, they seldom abandon it long, or quit it for another, and though roused from it, and fired at repeatedly through the day, not any sense of danger seems to alarm them ; and if we should seek for the little judcock on an ensuing morning, we find it at its spring again. The indifference with which it endures this persecution is amazing. It will afford amusement or vexation to the young sportsman throughout the whole Christmas vacation ; and from the smallness of its body, will finally often escape from all its diurnal dangers* " The causes that influence this snipe to lead so solitary a life are particularly obscure, as well as those which stimulate some others to congregate, as we comprehend no individual benefit to arise from such habits. Wild-fowl, the rook, and some other birds, derive security, perhaps, from feeding in society, as a sentinel appears to be placed by them, at such times, to give notice of danger; But our congregat- ing small birds take no such precaution ; security dr l&utUal protection does not seem to be obtained by • 72 52 BABIT8 OF BIRDS, it, as the largeness of the flocks invites danger ; and warmth in the winter season it does not afford. For the purposes of migration, such associations are, in many respects, serviceable and consistent; but, in our resident species, considered in its various re- sults, it becomes rather a subject of conjecture than of explanation. Timid creatures generally associate commonly upon the . apprehension of danger, and, without yielding any mutual support, become only the more obnoxious to evil ; and this snipe/though its habits are the very reverse of connexion with its species, yet affords no clue to direct us to the causes of its unusual habits. -These associations of some, and retirement of others, are not the capricious actions of an hour in a few individuals ; but so re* gularly and annually observed in the several species, that they are manifestly appointed provisions of nature, though the object is unknown*. 1 ' Similar remarks may be applied to the sand-piper (Totanits kypoleucos, Temminck), which is so so* litary in habit that we have seldom observed two of them together, even during the breeding season; though individuals are very frequently seen tripping along the sands by the sides of lakes and rivers, in pursuit of water-insects, which they capture by speed of foot, seldom, if ever, taking wing to continue the pursuit, as is often done by their fellow-hunter the wagtail (Motacilla lotor). We are not aware that they congregate, even during their migrations. The comparative scarcity of water-insects may probably account for their remaining solitary, since, though these insects are found in sufficient abundance at particular times and places, as in the clouds of day- flies (Ephemeridce) upon which we observed several sandpipers feasting luxuriously on the banks of the Rhine in autumn, yet this is only occasional, and the supply is never regular, as it may be said to be oft * Journal of a Naturalist, p. 254. soman* *»» OHMXtlors. M the nea-snere, where the dunlin (Triage variability MeVek), a bird, similar in its feeding to the sand- piper', congregates in considerable bands. These birds pick up an abundant supply of small marine insects within the tide mark, and, at the same time, keep so close to their .compnnitfns, that we may say we never saw one a yard from the flock. Whether they appoint a watch or not we have not been able to determine ; but they are so wary that several keen sportsmen, at a watering-place, failed in procuring us a sfhgle specimen, though they tfied for two of three months to get within shot Of several flocks that fiWJnieiltfcd the coast". 54 HABITS Off BIBDS, Chapter III. ftlRDS, SOLITARY OR GREGARIOUS, ON ACCOUNT OF SHELTER OR ASSISTANCE. Upon glancing back over the details which we have already given of the solitary and social habits of birds, it will be obvious, that their sociality produces: , no .apparent result, except it may be the appoint- ment of a sentinel to give intimation of danger, if .such appointment (as may well be doubted) actually takes place. Except in the instance of the sociable grosbeak (Loxia socia) of Africa, we do not recollect ,any authentic instance of birds uniting their efforts to assist in performing a common work. Even in this instance, the accurate observations of M. Vailfent naye. proved, that so far from building streets, as Paterson and others represent these birds to do, they merely build their nests in actual contact*, as rooks may,' sometimes be observed to do io this country. .T3ue notion of their building streets is of the same cha- racter with Pliny's account of the swallows in Egypt raising an embankment to oppose the inundation of the Nile* adopted by him from some hasty observer who had seen the bank-swallows (Hirundo riparia), not building (as he supposed), but mining into- an escarpment of the river t. In the same way we find it related by authors of celebrity, that when a pair of sparrows take felonious possession of the nest of a swallow, the swallow summons its companions to its * See Voyage, p. 3. f See Architecture of Birds, p. 96. SOLlTAttV AND GREGARIOUS. 55 assistance, when they all unite in a body to bring a sufficient quantity of mortar to entomb the robber- sparrows alive in the nest. This story is obviously imaginary, and the fiction is shown from the impossi- bility of so entombing, by means of clay, a bird with so powerful a bill as the sparrow *. M. Dupont de Nemours gives the following sin- gular account of what fell under his own observation : — " I remarked," he says, M a swallow which had unhappily — and I cannot imagine in what manner- slipped its foot into a slip-knot of packthread, the other end of which was attached to a spout of the Coflege of the Four Nations. Its strength was ex> fcmrsted,— it hung at the end of the thread, uttered '•cries,* and sometimes raised Itself as if making' an ellbrfcto fly away. All thfc swallows of the lar^e 'D&sif^between the bridges of the Tuileries and the Pont Neuf, and perhaps from places more remdte,had ■ assetribied to the number of several thousands. Their flight was like a cloud; all uttered a cry of pity and alarm! After some hesitation, and a tumultuous counsel, one of them fell upon a device for delivering ti&ir Companion, communicated it to the rest; and began' to put it into execution. Each took his place; till' those who were at liand went in turn, as in the fip'ort of running at the ring, and, m passing, struck the thread with their bills. These efforts, directed 'to'^me point, were continued every second, and even ftiore frequently. Half an hour was passed in this kind of labour before the thread was severed and the captive restored to liberty. But the flock, only a little diminished," adds M. Dupont de Nemours, " re* rnained until night chattering continually in a tone which no longer betrayed anxiety, and as if making mutual felicitations and recitals of their achieve- wentf" * See Architecture of Birds, p. 335. f Antoine, Anuntux C6Ubres, iL App. p. 18* Jg HftitTS OF BIRDS. Ndlf #e doubt not ttfat ttiese shallows crowded ttt their companion 1 , as M. Bupotit has Recorded, for all small birds are apt to come when called by their fellows, as is Well known to bird-catchers, who employ call-bird^ to. bring the wild bnes to their nets ; but we much doubt whether they united their efforts with the design of cutting the string, and think the observer must have been deceived as to this parti-) cular. In a similar instance of a pair of sparrows- becoming entangled, which fell under our observa-> tion, their neighbours crowded to the place, but* apparently, only for the purpose of scolding, hot of assisting, the entangled birds*. It is fare ihdeed among quadrupeds, and rarer* 8 till, if it occur at all, among birds, to meet with instances 4 of mutual assistance, such as we rind so strikingly exemplified among social insects t* Beavers unite fti forming dams across a stream and in burrow* ing out chambers in the banks ; but stories are told of the mutual assistance df some other quadrupeds, evi- dently as much overcbloured as that of M. Dupont's swallows: Thus the preparation of a winter abodd by the marmot (Arctotnys marmota, A. Bobac, Ac. J which has always excited admiratidn, has been, as is usual in such cases, greatly exaggerated by the fancies of inaccurate observers. " Their wit and understand- ing," says Gesner, " is to be admired ; for, like beavers* one of them falleth on the back, and the residue load his belly with the carriage, and when they have laid upon him sufficient, he girteth it fast by taking his tail in his mouth, and so the residue 1 draw him into the cave ; but I cannot," he well adds, " affirm cer- tainly whether this be truth or falsehood; for there is ltd reason that leadeth thereunto, but that some of them have been found bald on the back J." This evident fable is still gravely stated by some writers * See, Architecture of Birds, p. 319. Insert MitceW * m J Hist* tf Amm, by ToJUsjf p. 407. SOLITARY AND GREGARIOUS. $JT as an ascertained fact; and M. Beauplan goes so far as to imagine that he has seen a party trailing one of their companions by the tail, taking care not to overset him*. This feat, however, seems to be outdone by the one recently given on anonymous authority as authentic, of the marmot's skill in hay* making. " They bite off the grass/ 9 it is also said, •• turn it and dry it in the sun -J-." The only obvious and decided instance of mutual assistance which we recollect as occurring among birds, is that of parents feeding their young, keeping them clean and warm, and defending them against enemies, of all which habits we shall give ample details in the sequel of this volume. But in order to secure warmth, many species certainly take advan- tage of the animal heat of their kindred, and we may with some plausibility say, that in most cases this is done by mutual sufferance, if not by distinct permission. It is one of the most extraordinary as well as one of the best ascertained facts in the animal economy, though by no means as yet satisfactorily explained, that the interior heat of warm-blooded animals varies extremely little in the coldest and in the hottest climates. To the uninstructed it appears no less erroneous to say that the body is equally warm on a cold winter's morning and on the most sultry % of the dog-days, as to affirm that the sun is sta- tionary contrary to the apparent evidence of the senses ; yet the one truth is as well ascertained as the other. For example, Captain Parry found that when the air was from 3° to 32° at Winter Isle, lat. 66° 11' N., the interior temperature of the foxes when killed was from 106f° to 98° J; and at Ceylon, Dr. Davy found that the temperature of the native * Descript. Ukraine, t Mag. Nat. Hist i.377. $ Second Voyage, p. 157. SI HABITS OF BIRDS. 4 inhabitants ditferid bhly about one or two degree* from the ordinary standard in England*. At very high temperatures* however, there is a somewhat greater difference* as appears from the ingenious experiments made by MM. Delaroche and Berger, who exposed themselves to a heat of 228°, or sixteen degreeB above that of boiling water 2 they ascertained that at such very high temperatures there is an increase of seven of eight degrees of the centigrade thermometer f. The increase of cold on the contrary does not appear to influence the' temperature of the body in a similar way ; and hence we discover the cause why great cold proves less injurious and fatal to animals than might be reasonably anticipated. White of Sel borne, speaking of gipsies, says: "These sturdy savages seem to pride themselves in braving the severity qf the winter* and in living in the open air (sub did) the whole year round. Last September was as wet a month as ever was known ; and yet during those deluges did a young gipsy girl lie in the midst of one of our hop-gardens on the cold ground, with nothing over her but a piece of a blanket extended on a few hazel rods bent hoop-fashion and stuck in the earth at each end, in circumstances too trying for a cow in the same condition : within this garden there was a? large hop-kiln, into the chambers of which she might have retired, had she thought shelter an object worthy her attention}." Some half-wild cats (Felis do- mestical which frequented a solitary farm-house on the borders of a wood, were more attentive to their comforts than this young gipsy ; since a neigh-* bouring kiln for drying corn was their favourite resort during winter when the fire was lighted §. The law by which animal temperature is thus main* tained at nearly the same degree on exposure to con* • PhiLTrans. for 1814, p. 600. + Jdurn. de Ptiysique, lzxi. 289. $ Nat. Hist, of Selborne, letL 67. $ J, R. SOLITARY AND GftVfAHOUS. H tiderable heat or cold, though it is not easy to reconcile it to any of the received theories, supplies the only known reason why spme of the smaller and seemingly tender animals outlive the rigours of our severest win* ters. The magpie (Pica caudate^ Ray), though ra* ther a hardy bird, has been found having recourse to what is often practised by smaller birds— several of them huddling together during the night, to keep each other warm. A gentleman of intelligence and veracity informed us that he once saw a number of these birds (probably a young family with their parents) on a tree, yi a fjr plantation, sitting so closely together that they all seemed to be rolled up into a single ball Little is known of the roosting of these birds ) but *>mong smaller species the habit in question is not uncommon. Even during the day, in severe winter weather, we have observed a similar practice in the house-sparrow (Passer dometticus, Ray). ' On a chimney top, which can be seen from our study win* dow, we have often remarked the whole of a neigh* bouruig colony of sparrows contest by the hour the warmest spot on the projecting brick ledge* which happened to be in the middle. Here the sun shone strongest, the kitchen fire below sent hither its most powerful influence, and here the fortunate occupant was best sheltered from the frosty wind which swept by its companions that had been jostled to the two extremities of the row. But none remained long in quiet, for as soon as the cold air pinched ,them on the exposed side, they removed to the middle, scolding and cackling most vociferously; and as those who held the best places refused to give them up> the new-comers got upon their backs and insi* nuated themselves between two of their obstinate companions, wedge fashion, as you thrust a book into a crowded shelf. The middle places were thus successively contested, till hunger drove the whole polony to decamp in search of food. fit HABITS OF BU»0. ! • ' We once witnessed, near EJ&am, a similar eon> test for places among a family of the bottle-tit (Parot cmudatusy Ray), whose proceedings we had been watching while they flitted from spray to spray of a hawthorn hedge in search of the eggs of a coccus (Coccus crattegi? Fabr.). The ground was «** vered with snow, and as evening approached, the little creatures, whose restless activity had no doubt tended to keep them warm, retreated from the open hedge to the shelter of a thick holly — " the leading bird," as Mr* Knapp correctly describes their manner of proceeding, " uttering a shrill cry of twit, twit, twit, and away they all scuttled to be first, stopping for a second, and then away again 41 /' When they had all assembled, however, on an under bough of the holly, they began to crowd together, firdgetting and wedging themselves between one another as the sparrows had done ; but whether they intended to roost there, or were merely settling the order of pre- cedence, before retiring into some hole in the tree* we did not ascertain, for, in our eagerness to observe what they were about, we approached so near s»%d alarm them, and they all flew off to a distant field ft That this contest for places among the little bottle- tits was only previous to retreating into some more snug corner for the night, appears to us probable, from the known habits of their congeners, and also from what we daily observe among sparrows. Every evening, before going into their roosting holes, the sparrows assemble on some adjacent tree or house- top, squabbling and shifting places for a consider- able time, and then dropping off one by one accord- ing as they seem to have agreed upon the etiquette of precedence. Hardy as they certainly are, sparrows manifest great dislike to exposure during the night ; and, accordingly, they may be observed taking ad- • Journal of a Naturalist, p. 164, 3d edit. f J. R. SOLITAftTANfc Cfftlft&fclOUS. it vantage of every "variety of shatter. They'iire^niost commonly seenv indeed,' creeping' tinder the eaves' of houses or the cornices of pillars; but- they are equally load of a hole in a hay-stack, of getting under the let side of a rook's nest on to lofty tree, or of pouring into a sand hole burrowed out for its nest by the bank swallow (Hirundo riparia, Ray). They are ex- ceedktgly partial, on this account, to the shelter of ivy on a wail, or of a thick tuft of clematis; but when they can find such a shelter, they do not-, so far as we have observed, huddle together side by side, each individual merely selecting the warmest coping of leaves he can discover*. It is not a little remarkable that the thrush and blackbird, though so careful to provide shelter and warmth for their eggs and young*, show no wisdom in procuring the same comforts for themselves duritig winter, as they usually roost along with redwings and chaffinches in the open hedges, where they are often fatten to death in severe weather f, or captured by bat fowlers. The starling (Sturnus vulgaris) ex- hibits more care for itself, by roosting in the holes of trees* in the towers of churches, or under the tiles of ad old .house, like the sparrows, and frequently aaooag the thick tops of reeds in marshes. Yet will they sometimes suffer from frost even there. One winter's day in 182*2, after a very keen frost in the night, when we were searching for lichens on the trees in Copenhagen-fields, we found a cock starling in a hole frozen to death; It was in very fine condition, and more perfect in plumage than we ever saw this species : but it did not appear, upon the closest examination, to have received any shot or other injury, to cause its death besides the effects of the frost It maybe remarked, that like the sparrows and * J. R. t White's Selboroe, tetter 105 , o M HABITS Of 118*1. . other birds which roost in holes, the starlings huddle closely together, contending for places; acircuni* stance, indeed, recorded by Pliny. VAs touching sterlings, 1 ' says he, '< it is the property of the whole kind of them to fly by troups, and in their flight to gather round into a ring or ball, whiles every one of them hath a desire to be in the middest*,'' a state* ment corresponding exactly with what we have above mentioned of the sparrows and bottle-tits. It is not a little interesting thus to verify facts which were ob- served by the ancients ; and Mr* Knapp has done so in the instance of the starling now under consider* ation. " There is something,-' he remarks, " singu- larly curious and mysterious in the conduct of these birds previous to their nightly retirement, by the va- riety and intricacy of the evolutions they execute at that time. They will form themselves, perhaps, into a triangle, then shoot into a long pear-shaped figure, expand like a sheet, wheel into a ball* as Pliny ob- serves, each individual striving to get into the centre, &e., with a promptitude more like parade movements than, the actions of birdst," Iii the instance of the red-breast, the hedge-sparrow (Accentor modul&ris, Becbstein), and the wrea (AnortkuTQ communis), one can scarcely imagine how any of the species survive the winter, were it only for the difficulty they must have in procuring food. Selby, indeed, has observed wrens to perish in severe winters, particularly when accompanied with great falls of snow* " Under these circum- stances," he says, " they retire for shelter into holes of walls, and to the eaves of corn and hay-stacks ; and I have frequently found the bodies of several together in old nests, which they had entered for additional warmth and protection during severe * Natural Historic, by P. Holland, p. 284, ad, IQ94, f Jouu*} at' a Naturalist, p. 195, SOLlTltf Aifft afctealious. ftl «totmsV Buffim bays & sportsman told him ros had often found more than twenty collected in the same hole t. We are informed by an intelligent friend, that ha once found several wrens in the hole of a wall, rolled up into a sort of ball, for the purpose, no doubt, of keeping one another warm during the night ; and though such a circumstance is only to be observed by rare accident, we think it very likely to be nothing uncommon among such small birds as have little power of generating or retaining heat in cold weather. This very circumstance, indeed, was ob- served by the older naturalists. Speaking of wrens, the learned author of the Physical Curiosfe says, " They crowd into a cave during winter to increase their heat by companionship J." Those who keep wrens incages usually furnish them With a box, lined and covered with cloth, having a hole for entrance, where they may roost warmly during the night §. Yet even in keen frost the wren does not seem, in the day-time, to care much for cold, since we have in such cases fre- quently heard it singing as merrily as if it had been enjoying the sunshine; of summer, contrary to the remark of White ||, that wrens do not sing in frosty weather^ During a fall of snow, sheep seem both to take advantage of natural shelter, and to huddle together in order to economise their animal heat ; and they accordingly, during a snow-storm, always flee to the nearest shelter, though this is certain to end in their destruction, if the snow fall deep and lie long. It, * Illustrations of Brit. Orfilth. i. 197. f Ois* Art. Lb RoUtelet. J Multi utio specie in hyeme conduritur, tit parvus id Urn mi- sutis corporibus calor societale augeatur, p. 1249. 6 Syme, Brit. Song Birds, p. 159. )| Selborne, letu 60. 4 J.B. o2 64 HABIT* OP Bl|U>3» therefore* becomes one of the most painful tasks of the shepherd, in such circumstances, to keep his sheep steadily in the very brunt of the blast. So at least we were told by an old shepherd, whom we encountered at night-fall the end of December, 1808, in a wild mountainous pass, near Douglas, on the borders of Lanarkshire, who was actually engaged in thus guarding his flock in as heavy a fall of snow as we recollect ever witnessing *- The Ettrick Shep- herd, in a most interesting narrative, entitled ' Snow Storms,' in his Shepherd's Calendar, does not allude to tliis propensity in sheep ; though it may be inferred that they had acted upon it on one of the occa- sions which he describes, from his having found a number buried under the snow by the side of a high bank, to which no doubt they had fled for shelter at the onset of the storm. Though sheep, from their mode of life, ought to be hardy, they exhibit an anxiety for procuring shelter well worthy of remark. It is mentioned by Lord Kamesf, that the ewe, several weeks before yeaning, selects some sheltered spot where she may drop her lamb with the most comfort and security; and Mr. Hogg, in the volume just referred to, gives an instance in which a ewe travelled over a great distance to the spot where she had been accustomed to drop her lambs ; but what was still more remarkable, a ewe, the offspring of this ewe, though removed to a distance when a few days old, returned to the same spot to drop her first lamb |. It is a very curious and remarkable circumstance, that many species which are solitary at one period of the year, are gregarious at another ; and though it is possible to account for this in some instances, it be- comes not a little difficult in others. It is obvious, * J. R. f Gentleman Farmer, p. 15. X Shepherd's Calendar, Chapter ou Sheep. SOUTAftT KM) 6HV&A&IOUS, tf| fbr «Atfcplfey ? th« the" witlt«r aest of (he gold-tail in&th (P&Wft&i*rt vhfpotrhcBd) is constructed ad it comrtfoft domicile fi*r 4 whole brood*, whicli in tnfcit ymtn'g state can film* though of food though they keep together; but when they ihcrease in size the follow- ing Spring, &hd require a larger supply, they ti&tu- taRy separate, each to forage for itself. The fry df ialftidn and most other fish keep* together in crowds fH the early stage df their existence, not probably ftom any propensity to sociality, but because they are hatched hbout the same time at the head of the ddttid po6l, and as yet have no cause to be alarmed drt accOurtt of the ravenous propensities of their Companions. But this is very different from the Gotf- gtfegating of birds aflat- they have lived solitary far Several months, as is the case with larks* linnets, the window and chimney swallows, and many otherd. The lark during the summer months is decidedly unsocial ; for though we may meet with two or thffce pairs in the same field, we seldom find their nests near each other. They are hot quarrelsome and pugnacious, like the red-breasts, but they seem to prefer a secluded spot to a crowded neighbourhood. The young larks, after leaving the nest, seem equally unsocial, and do not* like most nestlings, keep, toge- ther in a band ; but prefer to wander about the field by themselves, though this must increase the trouble Of their parents in bringing them food. Yet these seemingly unsocial birds, as soon as the breeding aeason is fully over, flock together in numbers almost incredible, and have then been daught fbr the table in most countries of Europe from the earliest times, as iti Greece, Italy ft and England J. The number* t&ken in France may be guessed at from the account * See Insect Architecture, p. 331. f Ctypian ta Irfeuficee. J Polydi Virgil. Hist. foL 1994. o3 66 HABITS Or BIRDS. of Montbeillard, who says, ik a hundred dozen or more are sometimes taken at once, and it is reckoned very bad sport when only twenty-five dozen are got*." It would indeed require such numbers to liquidate the expense of the snares employed, it being usual to plant about two thousand limed willow rods in one field. On the Continent this is reckoned a princely sport; and the French nobility were also wont to be fond of it. But in England lark fowling is only followed by bird-catchers, who chiefly use a day clap net, or a night net, and a low bell, with which they take the larks at roost in stubble-fields. Though these larks, however, associate in such nu> merous flocks during the winter, no sooner does the pairing season commence than they separate again, each pair choosing a particular field, or a portion of a field, for a breeding place. What we have said of larks will nearly apply to linnets, chaffinches, the two house-swallows, and se- veral other, species of our indigenous birds, which breed in solitary pairs, and congregate at the ap- proach of winter. It is worthy of remark, that most, if not all, of these broods are more or less migratory, either leaving the country altogether or shifting from one district to another ; and, looking at the facts in this point of view, we may plausibly conjecture that the young broods take advantage of the experience of the older birds in removing to a more genial climate, or to places more abounding in food. Yet how plau- sible soever this may appear (and to us it seems almost the only solution of the difficulty), We meet with many species apparently in the same or very si- milar circumstances, which never congregate, or at least very partially. The pipits {Antki) y for example, whose habits and appearance so nearly resemble the larks that they are usually called titlarks, never * Oiscaux, Art, L'Alouette. SOLITARY *m 6U0AEI0U8. Of congregate in numbers; and though Colonel Hon* tagu's authority cannot be disputed, when he states, that he has observed the meadow-pipit (Anthv* prattn*is, Bbchstein) u keeping together in small flocks' 1 during winter, we doubt whether this be a common occurrence, or whether the birds he saw might not be the families bred the preceding summer. The rock-pipit (Anthus rupestris, Nils- son), which we had good opportunities of observing on the wild rocky shores of Normandy, might almost be considered gregarious from the numbers that are crowded together in a small space; but though a dozen or more may be put up within a few yards, they never take flight simultaneously in flocks, but always separately, and they roost in the same manner*. The wheat-ear (Saxicola (Emmthe 9 Bbchstein) is another striking exception to our general remark. Colonel Montagu, indeed, as in the case of the mea- dow-pipit just mentioned, tells us of a vast number Of these birds having, on the 24th of March, 1804, "made their appearance on the south coast of Devon, ireafr Kingsbridge* in a low sheltered situation, and continued in flock the whole of the day, busied in search of food. The flock consisted entirely of males, without a single female amongst themf ." Pennant, hkewise, says, " about Eastbourne, in Sussex, they are taken by the shepherds in great numbers— the numbers annually insnared in that district alone amounting to about 1,840 dozen}." There can be little doubt, however, that the statement of White is the more correct. " During autumn vast quan- tities," he tells us, " are caught on the South-downs, near Lewes: there have been shepherds, I am credibly informed, who have made many pounds in * J. R. f Oraith. Diet p. 553, 2d edit. % Brit. Zool. p. 102, foL edit. a season by catching" them in traps; and though such multitudes aire taken, I never saw (and am well acquainted with those parts) above two or three at a time, fot they are never gregarious *. " A recent writer, agreeing with White, well remarks, that •* if the flocking of wheat-ears in the south of Eng- land be an actual accumulation of them from other parts of the country, it is different from their habits In other places. They there both come and go With* out any indication, and appear to have no association beyond a single pair. They may flock there, however* for there are many places where birds accumulate at certain seasons without any explained cause, though seldom more than two or three are Seen together at any other time of the year I*." There can be little doubt, we think, that the most probable reason for the solitary habits df the wheat- ear is the nature of its food ; fot living, as it seem* to do, on the few insects which frequent such places as the little heaps of stones collected from the ridged of a corn-field, it would be impossible for more than a pair of these birds to And subsistence near one spot. Pennant mentions as one cause for these birds being so numerous at Eastbourne, that the neighbour* hood " abounds with a certain fly which frequent* the adjacent hills for the sake of thd Wild thyme," adding that the fly deposits its eggs, and also feeds upon the thyme J. We are acquainted with no fly of this description except the Very small gall-fly (Cynips thymi ?), but which can never, we think, be so abundant as to make it an object for so large a species of bird as the wheat-ear to assemble, with the hopes of a plentiful banquet. • Selboroe, letter 13. t Brit. Naturalist, ii. 361. \ Brit. Zoo!., at before quoted. 49 »i Chapter IV. PAIRING OF BIRDS. It would not be easy to select a more striking in- stance of the wisdom displayed in regulating the works of creation, than the extraordinary, and, to us inexplicable, fact of the males and females of all ani- mals being always found in nearly the same propor- tional numbers. With respect to mankind, for example, it has been proved by taking a census of the population in different countries, that the ratio of the two sexes shows very little variation. Hufeland found that in Germany there are about twenty-one males to twenty females*; by an average of 58,000 births at the Dublin Lying-in -Hospital the propor- tion of males to females was found to be as ten to nine t ; and by the population returns for England and Wales from 1811 to 1820, the number of males born was 1,664,557, and of females, 1,590,510 J. It has been inferred that the uniform excess of male births is providentially designed to meet the greater mortality arising from men being, by their habits of life, more exposed to dangers. No physiological investigation hitherto attempted has been successful in elucidating the more immediate causes of these wonderful facts, though some of the laws by which they are regulated have recently been successfully traced by the curious experiments of M. Girou de * Edin. Phil. Journ. iii. 296-9. t Cross, Med. Schools of Paris, p. 191. I Population Abstract, p. 154. ?0 HABITS OF BIRDS. Buzareingues *, who found, that with respect to the ages of the individuals paired, and the propor- tion of the sexes produced, nearly the same prin- ciples held good among fowls as among quadrupeds, at least when both were domesticated. The males of quadrupeds seldom lend any assist- ance whatever in taking care of the young. The assistance of the male indeed in most animals which suckle their young is not at all wanted, and hence he seldom takes any notice, or even knows of the existence, of his offspring. Amongst insects there is still less need of the aid of the male, so far at least as food is concerned ; for very few insect parents live to see their offspring. Insects, in most cases, finding their own food as soon as they are hatched, it is the chief care of the mother to deposit her eggs where appropriate food may be readily obtained by her progeny. Food indeed is in some instances collected by the mother and brought to the place where her eggs are deposited f; but the male parent never shares either in the labour of procuring it or in the construction of the nest for its reception { ; while in the singular exceptions furnished by ants and other insects living in communities, neither the males nor the females, but a peculiar race of nurse insects pro- vide the necessary food for the young §. Amongst birds, on the other hand, food for the young has' in most instances to be brought from a distance, and much assiduity is required to collect it in suffi* cient quantity, the voracity of nestlings being almost insatiable. Among them, therefore, the assistance of the male in this work is in most species almost indispensable. When the brood is numerous, it would be extremely difficult if not impossible for * Experiences sur la Generat. 8vo. Paris, 1828. f Insect Architecture, p. 32. J Ibid. p.45. J Insect Miscellanies, p. 242* the female alone to procure the requisite supply. Rooks, for example* which feed their young upon the grubs of chafers and similar insects, have often to make long excursions from their nest-trees be* fore they can find the required prey; and if this task were assigned to the female alone she could not obtain enough to sustain her own wapta and the in- cessant cravings of five young ones, which will readily devour their own weight of food in the course of a single day. Accordingly, when rooks, as they some- times do, build a second nest late in the season* in consequence of the first being destroyed, they find it scarcely possible to rear their young ; the warmth of the advancing summer drying up the ground and forcing the grubs and worms so deep into it as to be out of reach, while, the operations of plough- ing and digging having almost ceased, they have little aid from the labours of man. In such cases it has been remarked, that " the constant clamour of the young for food, so unusual in nestling birds, renders it manifest that the labour and exertion of the parents cannot supply a sufficiency for their requirements *." If then the difficulty is so considerable when both parents conjoin their labours, it may be inferred that it would even in ordinary circumstances be too much for the female alone, more particularly as her energies must be somewhat impaired by the previous fatigue undergone in the process of hatching. During this process the aid of the male is no less indispensable than in feeding the young. It is obvious, that while the hen has to sit for a number of days in order to hatch her eggs, and can- not, as we shall afterwards see, leave them for many minutes, without incurring the risk of destroying the embryo chicks, she must either run this hazard Or perish of hunger, unless she had food brought tq * Journal of a Naturalist, p, %$7, 3d edit. 2t£ HABITS ©r BIRDS. her. This indeed may be considered «b almbst ,1 !toe£ commencement of the labours of the cock ; for though; he helps a tittle in the building of the nest, -he dew# not work at it with the unwearied assiduity of the female. In the instance of the capocier (Sylvia macroura), Vaillant tells us that he observed the fe- raale to be much more active and anxious about the building; than the male, even punishing him for being frolicksome and idle by pecking him with her beak ; while, in revenge, he would sometimes set about pulling portions of the nest to pieces*. Independently, then, of assisting to build the nest, the female evidently could not well perform her do- mestic duties, if left to her own efforts ; though amongst polygamous birds, as we shall subsequently ., notice, this remark requires to be taken with sora^' modification. The instinct, or whatever it may be called, which leads birds to anticipate, foresee, and provide for this necessity, we cannot, in our present state of knowledge, trace to its immediate causes; and we must therefore rest contented with the knowledge of the observed facts. Some of these are not a little interesting, particularly on account of the close re- semblance of the proceedings of birds to our own,— • a resemblance that does not hold with those of other classes of animals. It might be supposed that birds of prey would be in the first instance somewhat afraid of each other in * their preliminary communications ; at least -an ento- .«* mologist would readily suppose so from knowing that {* it is no uncommon thing among predacious insects s for the females to make prey of the males, even aftpr pairing. Birds of prey, however, though, when pressed by hunger, they might not refuse to de- stroy their own species, are not like spiders activated by indiscriminate cannibal voracity; and though * Oiseaux d' Afrique, Hi. 77; and Architect of Birds, p. 282. »me of the more powerful eagles (ttatieetus leueo- cephalus, Savioht, &c.) will pursue their conveners and force them to surrender the prey they may have WMMiMdti fa(ll Hd Fmb-Hwlb 74 HABITS 09 BIRDS, caught, yet we are not aware of any recorded instance of one eagle making prey of another, aa spidera arc known to do, and as is common among fish. On the contrary, the males and females of birds of prey appear to be more closely attached than those of roost other species. They continue together not only daring the breeding season, but throughout the year, and even for a long succession of years, at least if we may trust to the circumstantial evidence of a pair of eagles frequenting the same locality, and building on the same spot. The evidence indeed for the birds being always the same is incomplete; yet on the supposition that it is not the same but successive pairs which are ob- served in tfye same place, we are led to the curious inquiry how the death or disappearance of one pair it supplied by another. We have in more than one instance observed a pair of magpies nestle on the same tree* for a series of years, where they reared a brood of four or five young ones every season. All of these disappeared from the neighbourhood,-*— at least we observed no increase in the number of nests. Jn one instance we observed a magpie's nest thus successively occupied for ten- years.* The number of young, therefore, annually reared in such an hereditary" nest, as it may well be called* must be nearly proportional to the supply of the mor- tality among these birds either from accident or disease. Should the female, for instance,- which has just reared a brood, be accidentally killed, the male must either seek for another partner or abandon the nest to some of his descendants. That the .former is the usual manner of proceeding, will appear from facts which we shall immediately state ; but ,that the latter may also occur may be- inferred from the young birds, upon leaving their parents, establishing (h>mselve«, at they must do, in the belt situation ■ they can discover. The continuance of a neat in the seme spot for several year* is more remarkable in the case of migratory birds than in that of magpies, which do not migrate, and seldom go to any considerable dis- tance from their breeding trees. There has been in * garden adjacent to ours, the nest of a black-cap (Sfftvia atricapitla) for a succession of years, and broods have been successively reared there, without tiny, observable increase in the population of the species. Yet this bird, which is little bigger than a Wren, weighing only half an ounce, has to traverse annually the whole of the south of Europe, and pro* bably a great proportion of the north of Africa, ex- posed of course to numerous accidents, as well as to occasional scarcity of it* appropriate food. From the. regular annual restoration, however, of this nest at the same spot, it is obvious that one, if not both of 76 HABITS OF BIRDS, the black-caps, must have been wont to perform this extensive migration to and from Africa as safely as the more hardy cuckoo or the more swift-winged swallow. During the spring of 1831, the black-caps, which we suppose to be the same birds, from their keeping to the same place of nestling, were more than usually late in arriving ; for in another garden about a mile off, there were young in the hereditary nest of black-caps before our little neighbours made their appearance from the South. When they did arrive, their attention was immediately attracted by the un- usual circumstance of hearing the loud song of a rival in the vicinity of their premises. This was a cock black-cap, which we had purchased the pre- ceding autumn in the bird-market at Paris, and which was daily hung out in his cage to enjoy the fresh air and the sunshine, within a gun-shot of their usual place of nestling. The wild birds did not appear to like the little stranger at all ; and the cock kept flying around the cage, alternately exhibiting curiosity, fear, anger, defiance, and triumphant ex- ultation. Sometimes he would flit from branch to branch of the nearest tree, silently peeping into the cage with the utmost eagerness; all at once, he would dart off to a great distance as if afraid that he was about to be similarly imprisoned; or getting the better of his fears, he would perch on a con- spicuous bough and snap his bill, calling cheeky check, seemingly in a great passion ; again he would sing his loudest notes by way of challenge, or per- haps meaning to express his independence and superiority. Our cage-bird, meanwhile, was by no means a passive spectator of all this; and never failed, on the appearance of the other, to give voice to his best song and to endeavour to out-sing him, since he, could not get at him to engage in personal con- flict *. *Afttttffa'6e to which they removed is such, that we can readlty hear the son£ of the cock, and our bird is no leMtttgef to answer and to endeavour to outsing jhim in*h~ at first ; while it is worthy of remark that tfte J wild bird seems « no longer interested in such rWalry, and sings as iT his only concern was to please fflfos>lfandhismdt*^ ^ Now we think it a very probable inference from tfifs iittte narrative, that had the wild cock black-cap 8y finy accident been killed, the heh would have ftaAiJy paired with our bifd or any other which had tftade its appearance; for ft must hav6 been the natural' dread of her preferring our bird, that actuated tfte wild cock in his Various expressions of passion WHiGh we have just recorded. This conclusion is Corroborated by his subsequent behaviour as soon as he felt secure in the affections of his mate by her commencing the nest under his own auspices. About the same period of time, we had an oppor- tunity of observing the proceedings of some other cage-birds Of different species in their preparations for breeding, ft 1s well known to be a common practica among oird- fanciers to pair hen canaries with cocks Of other* species of the same genus, or 'such as re* * j. a h3 HABIW «» BIIDS. •gmble them the nearest in size and habit* ; and *n we possessed two such cocks in a goldfinch Rod a sifkiB (Cardudis spin>u, Brissotv), we puttheiii both into a large breeding-cage along with a bea canary. It was not a little amusing to observe. the eseftiow ■ of these two birds in trimming their feathers, singing; at the utmost pitch of their voices, as if each wefe. determined not to be out-sung by bis rival ; a»d qiorg 'than -once, before any nest was begun, w« observed them bringing her food in their bills by way of pra- -sent. From the first, however, she shoved a marked dislike to the goldfinch, though the finest beau of the .two, being the brightest-coloured bird, even of this beautiful species we ever saw ; while the siskin, inde- pendently of his less gay colours, had lu^M'i* tail, and was besides quite bald, from tiie habit he had of PAfftlNG. < . -*9 rubbing his head along the wires of the cage. With all these disadvantages, nevertheless, in the personal appearance of the siskin, added .to his inferiority of song, (rendered worse by the harsh cackling note which %e ..seldom failed to give as a finale .to his mosrtfcelpclfous passages, contrasting strongly with Uie majry musical twinkle of the goldfinch's finale,) Ug£ latter received nothing for his assiduities, but a loud scolding or sometimes a hearty drubbing, the canary being by far the most powerful bird, and being never loth to let him feel the sharpness of her Beak. The siskin being evidently the favourite, we hjad the goldfinch removed ; but as his cage was hung up near the other, he continued to give himself all: the airs which had already proved so unavailing. But 1 the siskin,' precisely like the wild black-cap already mentioned, almost immediately relaxed in his assiduities to please ; and, though he was not in- attentive during the incubation which followed, yet he seldom strove to out-sing the goldfinch, but warbled in a subdued under tone of voice, as much as to 3fi4teate that he cared not how well or how loud hfa ird in confinement, wfe should be disposed .'tjfr {juestlbn thfc fait of the cock of migratory, bfrds selecting a station, and singirig there till a nen was attracted; Our caged black-cap, already mentioned^ Appeared to' be actuated by different .feelings { (of h^ COntiiiued to exhibit the migratory agitation 1 of; hopping impatiently about his cage during* the' i%nt, ibng after the species had arrived' in' t*hi$ t c&uritry. ' His agitation commenced exactly on theT 1st' of "April, though, on the same day, „ we beard; tjirie or' four 6f those newly arrived singing in tftt gardens ; and dne had been observed in the neigh*, bourhood more than a week before. It is wortny of f eniafk, also, that he liad been in song from before^ Chrfstmas, which could not well have been intended to attract a mate. But what we consider most to the point, his migratory agitation did Hot cease till the I Oth of June, and he hopped about as incessantly Of) the' night of the 9th as he had done at the Com* n&encement on the 1st of April. Now though, from confinement being an unnatural state, we cannot reason with certainty from circumstances then oc- curring, yet it seems probable that our bird, if he had been at liberty, would have continued to migrate every night, and to sing, as he did, part of. every day (snatching a few minutes' sleep occasionally) till he had found a mate*. • J.R. PAIRING. $1 We have a similar instance to those mentioned by Montagu, recorded by Professor Kalm. " A couple of swallows," he says, " built their nest in a stable, and the female laid eggs in the nest, and was about to brood them. Some days afterwards the people saw the female still sitting on the eggs; but the male, flying about the nest, and sometimes settling on a nail, was heard to utter a very plaintive note, which betrayed his uneasiness. On a nearer ex- amination, the female was found dead in the nest ; 1 and the people flung her body away. The male then went to sit upon the eggs; but after being about two hours on them, and perhaps finding the business too troublesome, he went out, and returned in the after- noon with another female, which sat upon the nest, and afterwards fed the young ones till they were able to provide for themselves *." That it is not the cock alone, however, which is thus able to procure a second mate, appears from the remarks of White. "Among the monogamous birds," he says, "several are to be found, after pairing time, single, and of each sex ; but whether this state of celibacy is matter of choice or necessity is not so easily discoverable. When the house-sparrows deprive my martins of their nests, as soon as I cause one to be shot, the other, be it cock or hen, presently pro- cures a mate, and so for several times following. I have known a dove house infested by a pair of white owls, which made great havock among young pigeons. One of the owls was shot as soon as possible ; but the survivor readily found a mate, and the mischief went on. After some time the new pair were both destroyed, and the annoyance ceased. Another instance, I remember, of a sportsman, whose zeal for the increase of his game being greater than his humanity, after pairing time he always shot the * Travels in America. II HABITS OF BIRDS, tdck-bird of every couple of partridges upon his grounds, Supposing that the rivalry of many males interrupted the breed. He used to say, that though he had widowed the same hen several times, yet he found she was still provided with a • fresh paramour that did not take her away from her usual haunt V In opposition to this doctrine there is one instance, which has been celebrated from the earliest ages, the turtle-dove being represented as the very emblem of conjugal love and fidelity. The dark or black- coloured turtle-dove, it is said, was employed by the Egyptians as the hieroglyphic of chaste widowhood, it being understood that when one of a pair was killed the other never joined with a second mate. " They be passing chaste," says Pliny, * 4 and neither v male nor female change their mate, but keep together one true unto the other. They live, I say, as coupled by the bond of marriage ; never play they false, one by the other, but keep home still, and never visit the holes of others. They abandon not their own nests, unless they be in a state of single life, or widowhood by death of their fellow. The females are very meek and patient; they will endure and abide their im* perioufl males, notwithstanding, otherwhiles, they be very churlish unto them, offering them wrong and hard measure, so jealous be they of the hens, and Suspicious, though without any cause, for passing chaste and continent by nature they aret»" The Jpoets follow naturally in the same opinion, and h«nce, from Ovid and Dante} down to our own times, we meet with comparisons and allusions thence derived, as if the fact were ascertained beyond question. The fact, however, of doves acting in this maimer, so far from being correct, may be easily disproved by ♦ Nat. Hist, of Selborne, letter 34. t Holland'* Plinie, X. 34 \ Inferno, Cant. 5. EMHSN0. «t lay one who Will take the trouble, as well as by cir- cumstances mentioned by the very writers just quoted, Aristotle, indeed, though he hints in one place bit belief in the common opinion, mentions in another that he had known doves change their mates. The fret, moreover, that these birds are easily enticed from their own dove-cots to others, and thus become lost to their owners, is but too well known to every body who has ever kept them. " Some," says Pliny, " use means to keep pigeons in their dove-house (for otherwise they be birds that love to be ranging and wandering abroad), namely, by slitting and cutting tbe joints, of their wings with some thin sharp piece of gold ; for If you do not so, their wounds will fester. a.nd be dangerous. And in very troth, these birds be soon seduced and trained away from their own homes ; and they have a cast with them to flatter and entice one another: they take a great delight to inveigle Others, and to steal away some pigeons from their own flocks, and evermore to come home better accompanied than they went forth*. 1 ' Now all this is evidently in direct contradiction to what we have quoted from the preceding page of the same work. M. Ray also informed Buffbn, that notwithstanding the reputation of the turtle-dove lor conjugal con* atancy, he found the females of those which were confined in voleries living almost promiscuously with the mates. Nay, M. Ray asserts that he has observed the wild turtle-doves living in the same manner on the same tree t- The common opinion, therefore, appears from these circumstances to be manifestly erroneous. We meet, however, with instances among other birds of affectionate conjugality well worthy of being recorded; and we shall give one example of this kind, * Holland's Plmie, X. 37. • - f Otteaux, Art. Totuterellt* £4 HABIf* 49* JtRDS. as described- by Biagiey, that «seamd m m pair of the Guinea parrot (Prittacus puUarw$y* •* A male and female of this species were lodged tegetfaer 4n a large square cage* The vessel which held theif food was placed at the bottom. The male usually sat on the same perch with the female, and dese beside her. Whenever one descended for food, the Qther always followed ; and when their banger was satisfied, they returned together to toe highest perch of the cage. They passed fonr years together ia this state of confinement; and from their mutual attentions and satisfaction, it was evident that >* strong affection for each other had been excited; At the end of this period the female fell into a state of languor, which had every symptom of old age ; her legs swelled, and knots appeared upon them, as if the disease had been of the nature of gout. It was no longer possible for her to descend and take her food as formerly ; but the male assiduously brought it her,- carrying it in his bill, and delivering it into hers. He continued to feed her. in this man- ner, with the utmost vigilance, for four months'. The infirmities of his mate, however, increased every day; and at length she became no longer able .to sit upon ( the perch : she remained crouched at the bottom, and from time to time made a few useless efforts to regain the lower perch ; while the male, who remained close by her, seconded these feeble attempts with all .his power. Sometimes he seized with his bill the upper part of her wing, to try to draw her up to him ; sometimes hef took hold of her bill, and attempted to raise her up, repeating his efforts for that purpose several times. His counte- nance, his gestures, his continual solicitude, every thing, in short, indicated, in this affectionate bird, an ardent desire to aid the weakness of his com- panion, and to alleviate her sufferings* But the 'teettfrbeeafliie still more interesting when the female was* at the point of expiring. Her unfortunate part- ner wettt rtund and ronnd her without ceasing; he fedtiubM his assiduities and his tender cares; he attempted- to open her bill, in order to give her nourishment ; his emotion every instant increased; he west to her, and returned with the most agitated tM attd with the utmost inquietude ; at intervals he attetftd tHe most plaintive cries; at other times, with 4ti* eyes fixed upon her, he preserved a sorrow- M sikneei His faithful companion at length ex- pirt&e* he languished from that time, and survived her only a few months*." * Biugley, Anim. Biog. ii. 224. It HABITi Qt WRD3. Chapter V. PECULIARITIES IN PAIRING. Theee are some species of birds, among which the* assistance of the male ip less necessary during incubation, as well as in procuring food for the young, than among those whose habits have been describe^ in the preceding chapter. In such species domestic attachment is much less binding, and in some in- stances can scarcely be* said to exist. We have never observed cuckoos, for example, associating in pairs, though single birds may be seen in considerable numbers throughout the summer ; and, among do- mestic fowls, the peacock is seldom seen in company with the peahen. The turkey-cock indeed is arti- ficially brought to feed along with the hen ; but in the case of the latter bird, this is contrary to what takes place in a wild state. As a contrast to what we are familiar with from observation, it may be interest- ing to give a sketch of the singular manners of the turkey, as it has been observed in its native woods, by Audubon, Charles Bonaparte, and the earlier tra- vellers in America. About the beginning of October, turkeys, young and old, move from their breeding districts towards the rich bottom lands near the Ohio and the Missis- sippi. The males (called gobblers by the Americans) associate and feed in companies of from ten to a hundred apart from the females, which advance sometimes singlj', sometimes followed by their young,, and sometimes in united families, forming a band of from seventy to eighty individuals. AH these exhibit PBCDLfAfctttHS I* PM»ING. Wild Tnrkty and Young. a dread of the old cocks, and are constantly on the Watch to avoid them ; for though the young birds arc now about two-thirds grown, the males seem already to regard them as rivals, and whenever they have an opportunity they will attack and often kill them by repeated blows on the head. Towards the middle of February, or early in March, the turkeys begin to prepare for breeding, the females at first shunning the males, who eagerly pursue them and utter their peculiar gobbling call. At night, the two sexes roost apart, though usually at no consi- derable distance. When a female chances to utter her -call-note, all the males within hearing return a 88 HABITS OF BIRDS. loud response, in a rolling' gobble of rapidly succes- sive notes, as if with the design of emitting the last as soon as the first,— much in the same manner as the tame turkey when he responds to any unusual or frequently repeated noise, but not with the spreading tail and strutting gait as when fluttering around the hens on the ground, or practising similar movements in the morning on the branches of the roost trees. When their numbers are considerable, the woods from one end to the other, sometimes for many miles, resound with this singular hubbub, continued from the roosting places in alternate responses for about an hour. All then becomes still again, till at the rising of the sun they leap down in silence from their roost trees, and begin to strut about with ex- panded tails and drooping wings. When the call-note of the hen turkey ascends from the ground, all the cocks in the neighbourhood im- mediately fly towards the spot. The moment they reach it, whether they perceive her or not, they erect their spreading tails, and throw the head backwards between the shoulders, which are at the same time shrugged up; they distend the comb and wattles* depress their wings with a quivering motion and a rustling sound, strutting the while with great pom- posity, and ejecting from the lungs successive puffs of air. At short intervals they may be seen to stop short, listening and looking all about ; but whether they descry the female or not, they resume their strutting and puffing, moving with as much celerity as the nature of their gait and their notions of cere- mony seem to admit. Should the males, during such movements, encounter each other, as often happens, furious battles ensue, which are only terminated by the flight or the death of the vanquished, and many lives are thus lost. " I have often," says Audubon, " been much diverted while watching two males in • fllh^edfiflttt; b^seemg them itiove'altcfrrmMjfb^cK-' Wards and forwards, as either had'obtaihed a better fiWcl, theft wings drooping, their tails 'patffy raisedf thtti body feathers ruffled, arid their 'heads doveretf wfrh blood; If, as they thus struggle and gasp for breath, one of them should iose his -hold, his chance Is over* for the other, still holding fast, hits him violently faith spurs and wings, arid in a few mhrute£ brings him to the ground. The moment he is dead the curiqueror treads him underfoot; but, What hi 6trange, hot with hatred, but with all the motions vrhich he employs in caressing the female*/' ' J When the male and female turkey meet, the cere*- itibmes* of strutting and opening the wings are'tar- ffeflidtf by both parties, with the same potnp of movement that used to distinguish the stately mi hUetsi fiftWe old Courts of St. James's and Versailles, 'the rffitch being at length agreed upon, the attachment £{Wearfc«16 continue during the season, though the £0ck is by m>- means constant to his mate, and does fibt'ft'esirtite, should opportunity offer, to bestow' his AftykioYis oh others. But when the above prett- tflinafies have been settled* the hens follow their ftvourife cock, roosting ort the same tree, or, at feast, in its immediate vicinity, till the time of laying, when ihe~ hen has recourse to every stratagem of cunning to conceal her eggs from the male, who ahvtiyte breaks them, in order, it is alleged, to prevent her Atom Withdrawing from his society, bf attending to the duties of incubation. At this period the hetife s|iirn the cocks during the greater part 6( the dart m latter becoming clumsy and listless, meeirtig each 6ther Without exhibiting 1 any rivalry, and Ceasing to ibbble or strut a* they had previously done. «'*'Turfeey-cocks, vvhen at roost," toys Audub6ff ? ''sometimes strut and gobble ; but I have more * Oimthoi. Biogr. p. 4. I 3 [to .. s'hnMti&MarmRmi •? ^nendlf ««n tileinjspuewliorjt and raised tbefetal, -endremiij the pulmonio puff* lowering their tari mid , piherfetdhei 1 ^ imiiicdiQtelyiafter. 'During" clear nighte, vorJwheir there as moonshine, they perform this action i*fc uBfttnvaJs of m few minutes, for hours together, fwfcboutt moving from the same . spot, and indeed orioroetiiries without rising on their ■ legs, especially i towards the end of the breeding season* The males row become greatly emaciated, and cease to gobble, .their breast-sponge becoming flat. They then se- parate from the hens, and. one might suppose that . they had entirely deserted their neighbourhood. "'At such seasons I have round 'them lying by the swie of ,a in gome retired part of the dense weeds and rMm thickets, and often permitting one to approach ^wjthina few&et. They are then unable to fly, but j$un swiftly* and to a great distance. A slow.turkey- Jwund has led me miles before I could flash the same bird. Chases • of this kind I did not undertake /fwtbe^f purpose of killing the bird, it being 1 then unfit for eating, and covered with ticks, but with the ;yfew of rendering myself acquainted with its habits. They thus retire to recover flesh and strength, by .purging with particular species of grass, and using )£ess.-exerdse. As soon as their condition is im- ^proved the cocks come together again, and recom- tneaee their rambles *•" r. . Similar manners are not uncommon among other .species belonging to this group of birds (itaamet, JUbroBR)* But several of these pair in the usual way. Some of the grous family (Tdnumitkb 9 ^8*09) a«e polygamous, while others are mortbga- 4¥tous. In the moor-fowl (Tttrao Scotims), fort*- a*rtple> which- sometiiaes pairs so early as January^, /we/have* remarked,, that the cock and ben 'keep * Ocfttth. Biogr. p. 5. f Sdby, Illustration!, p. 30& PECffMABI TIBS W&J& RING. ' tl .together daring the greater joort of thersamnteri. We i J»vc also had opportunities of observing the poryga- . mans manners of the black grouse (Tetrao Ut*te) y i which muck resemble those of the wild turkey, inasmuch as the males congregate in autunM, attd imay be seen in parties of a dozen or more in Oien- . darnel and other wooded and marshy defiles of the r Western Highlands of Scotland. On the approach of spring, however, those ' whieh have spent the winter in harmonious companionship gradually become - irascible, and not only separate by reciprocal eon- t Aent, but exhibit rancorous hostility whenever they » encounter any of their former associates. Each ' cock chooses -a particular station, over which he assumes .paramount authority; and if a rival venture within j his boundaries, he must either conquer the first settler, or pay the penalty of his intrusion by defeat, .^aiid probably by death. That none may be unap- prised of the situation of his territory, he takes care •to proclaim his rights by crowing aloud, particularly .in the morning, when birds leave their roosts to forage for the day. His call, while it warns his vrivals off his domain, invites such females as may be -within hearing to resort to the place, where he Deceives them with proud strutting and drooping of the wings and tail, somewhat similar to what we have just recorded respecting the turkey-cock*. During the pairing season the skin of the eye- .. brows becomes intensely red, and the whole plumage ' more brightly coloured t, as in other birds. At the beginning of May the hens. begin to lay. ._ Another specks, the ruflfed grouse of America (Tefyruo. umhdhis) proceeds much in the same moaner; though the call of the cock, as described by -Audubon J and Wilson §, is very peculiar. When * J. R. f Seftby, Illustrations, p. 305. % Ornith. Biog. p. 215. } Wils. Am. Orn. vi. 46. ' '"'iiirfi bifmwi," walking through the solitary woods frequented by the ruffed grouse, a stranger is surprised by suddenly bearing a sort of bumping sound, simitar to. that produced by two full-blown bladders struck smartly together, but much louder. At the commence- _ jjieut, the strokes are distinct and slow ; but they are gradually increased in rapidity, till they at length run into each other like the rolling beat of a drum, ipr the rumbling of very distant thunder dying away by degrees on the ear. In a calm day this drumming may. be beard half a mile off. It is r^aated after spouse of a few minutes. These birds begin to drum early in April, com- PECULIARITIES IN PAIRING. 9$ mencing immediately after dawn, and renewing the noise about night-fall. The cock, when drum- ming, usually stands upon a knoll or a felled tree, in a retired or sheltered situation, and, proudly erecting himself, raises his feathers, lowers his wings, elevates his expanded tail, contracts his throat, throws the two tufts of feathers on the neck into the form of a ruff, and inflates his whole body, strutting and wheeling about upon the leg with great stateli- ness. A few moments elapse, in. these preliminary gesticulations, when he draws the whole feathers close to his body, and stretching himself out, begins to strike upon his sides with his stiffened wings in short and rapid strokes, somewhat in the manner of the domestic cock, but much more loudly, and with so much rapidity of motion, after a few of the first strokes, as to cause a rumbling sound not unlike dis- tant thunder. This sound is very deceptive, ap- pearing for the most part to be much nearer than it really is, though it is sufficient to point out the place to the sportsman. " During the spring," says Audubon, " and to- wards the latter part of autumn, at which times the ruffed grouse is heard drumming from different parts of the woods to which it resorts, I have shot many a fine cock by imitating the sound of its own wings striking against the body, which I did by beating a large inflated bullock's bladder with a stick, keeping up as much as possible the same time as that in which the bird beats. At the sound produced by the bladder and stick, the male grouse, inflamed with jealousy, has flown directly towards me, when, being prepared, I have easily shot it An equally success- ful stratagem is employed to decoy the males of our little partridge by imitating the call-note of the female during spring and summer ; but in no instance, after repeated trials, have I been able to entice the pinnated 14 BASirS 6* BIRDS. grtnmta come towards me; whilst imitating the •dOOftim; sound* of that bird i ^ ,, . The Account? given of the pairing of the pinnated grouse (TVtfrao cupido), by Dr. S. Mitchell of New York, is worth extracting. " The season for pairing," days the Doctor, " i$ in March, and the breeding time is continued through April and May. Then the male grouse distinguishes himself by a peculiar sounds When he utters it, the parts about the throat art Sensibly inflated and swelled. It may be heard on a Still morning for three or more miles ; some say they have perceived it as far as five or six. This noise is a sort of ventriloquism. It does not strike the ear of a by-stand er with much force ; but impresses him with the idea, though produced a few rods from him, of a voice a mile or two distant This note is highly characteristic. Though very peculiar, it is termed tooting, from its resemblance to the blowing of ft conch or horn, from a remote quarter." "During the period of mating," he continues, " and while the females are occupied in incubatiod, the male's have a practice of assembling, principally by themselves. To some select arid central spot, where* there is little underwood, they repair front the adjoining district From the exercises- performed there, this is called a *(srutching-ploce. ' The time of meeting is the break of day. As soon as the light appears, the company assembles from every side, sometimes to the number of forty or fifty. WheA the dawn is past, the' ceYemony begins by a low tooting from one of the COcks. This is answered by anothet*. They then eome forth, one by one, firoiA the bushes, and fetrut about with all the pride and ostentation they can display. Their necks are incur- vated ; the feathers on them are erected into a sort of ruff; the plumes of their tails are expanded like * Ornith, Bioy. p, 216, PECUUAftJrTIVft 1W WJUNG. »{ fans; they strut about 1» a style resembling, at neatly as small may be illustrated by great, the pomp of the turkey-cock. They seem to vie with each other in state! jnes&; and as 4 they, pass each other, fre- quently cast looks of insult* .and utter notes pf de* fiance. These are the signal* for battles* They fngage with wonderful spirit and fierceness, During these contests, they leap a foot or two from the ground, and utter ft cackling, screaming, and dis- cordant «ry« They have been found in these places pf resort even earlier than the appearance pf light in the east. This fact has led to the belief that a part of them assemble overnight* The rest join them in the morning. This leads to the further belief that they roost on the ground ; and the opinion is con- firmed by the discovery of little rings of dung, ap- parently deposited by a flock which nad passed the night together* After the appearance of the sun they disperse, " These places of exhibition have been often dis- covered by the hunters $ and a fatal discovery it has been for the poor grouse. Their destroyers construct for themselves lurking-holes made of pine branches, galled bough-houses, within a few yards of the parade. Hither they repair with their fowling«pieces in the latter part of the night, and wait the appearance ef the birds. Watching the moment when two are proudly eyeing each other or engaged in battle; or when a greater number can be seen in a range, they pour on them . a destructive charge* of. shot* This annoyance has been given in so many places and to such an extent, that the grouse, after having been repeatedly disturbed, are afraid to assemble. On approaching the spot to which their instinct prompts them, they perch on the neighbouring trees, instead of alighting at the scratching* pi ace; and it remains to be observed, hoyr. iaj M)e.re*i)qss and tormenting spitaof<i fUU'pBclceansists, ot'courao, of tea or adoam, T*o ' pMH have been bram »i> associate. I InttlyheardL e of- one ■ whose number RHMunUd M 'twenfy-OMv ' They. tare m unapt to be startled, that a *wa»r, - assisted by a iog, has been able to fihnot *l*wtet'»' J wtwlei pact, without making any«f th*at takrwiii^. /^. •tilth* «t of itmnins- ncuiftMinfffurthev been remarked* •* that tthej* aoompttny of apetUmen ha*e*uiTOUiidedL ! ajpacfoof grouse, the bods seldom *»* ftftffiftfe dr*Mw* *ody; whicUst i*P# ***• 'time % toad* tt flip «*# wings; "fttftlffc artmVprepafatfcn fe,%Wl as unlike a living" bird' as t&ifi a«dT'fe*lfr#rt$ &fe ^ rtvacte, It fofotitid't©* an*#ef the pu*f**«* M*ffi- Ifetitty well: 'These stuffed skins ttfe*festc*n4d dn* the gr*ono\ tif**a «Mh thfc ffjriug Mtt* aligfhW fei* tfce sake of a fckh* ihWh/- <•■■«• ...,,.,- Th# rtrf% thu^ <*«u*rto are fcffened fo*"th* ««b1* wfelf bftafo and aMh bettpseed/dwd seriietimer'wllft bo^fl whffelf but if expedition be rt^nired* *\igfr\l aWedJWhfc&wSll ateke them, In a ftrtflfgtit'a t\*m a l>( VnHi^ of faV M* towns, * noted feed*** »* J/ told Grf&m Mfcrftagu, that M4'fem?lr'lf^ .iU.htfftdredyeartr iri thre trodVaWl M «*%«• *^ fto*' priee to be under thirty sMHn£& a do^enl #H#ft tfcb bfrda were fit for the table, though^ th*jr £fe#flfcto teueh higheft Mr. Alfetf, of Grtinge;"**. ftirtnfct* Bewicfe, that' irt H94 be dined at th* Oeor^ Mri, Vork; wtere fotar rtifls Wade one of the dtehea at table, which, in #he Mil* werd sepairatdy charged fttten smiling*. • ^ The hi& a*e 4b addfete* to fightfhgv fhaff the fcfeaVa' if ©obliged td shut them up in a daft tt>oht, •£ they attack one another the moment the Rfefrt fe aiimittfed>, ind never delist tilt mast 6T f hehr are «*• ferrnitiated. The suecess of Tbw^ns, ttiereffere, in iwryhkg a great liumber tfc frefcntf beeom^s the IWre Mitebrdinary; At the Request dP \m Ufarcjirfe iAf ^Pownsfcrtd; at the time IJoWl Iiteutefiknt of ft* WAuVSfe M dtffrbm Xincdlrfshi^ wiih : tw^t^s^v^h K 3 f 1*2 '- ' fMBEIS 0F; BUffiGL '-( bdazenrand i after leaving seven dozen at^he DaAe ?o£ Devonshire's, at Chatsworth, continued his route across the kingdom to Holyhead, and delivered seventeen dozen alive in Dublin, having lost only three dozen, though they were by necessity closely -crowded in baskets. We do not find thai ruffs are ever made to exhibit their pugnacious disposition by way of amusement,, as some other polygamous birds are, though it -would appear they might be thus exhibited. We tare told that Solon, the Athenian lawgiver* de- tected that quails should be made to fight bin the presence of the youths of the state, with a view to^ inflame their courage. The Romans, it weald appear* held quail+fighting in still higher estiraatkm, ; as: we. may infer from the circumstance of Augustus plumbing a prefect of Egypt with death for buying and bringing to table a quail which had acquired eejehrity by its victories. Even at present this eort uf amusement k common in some cities of Italy 4 and #tMl more among the Chinese. In Italy they give AW* quails high reeding,- and then place them oppo- - gite each other, at the ends of a long table, and throw between them a few grains of millet seed, as* a ground of squ&nreL At first they show a threatening aapeot, >tn*i then rush on with great impetuosity, striking with their bills, erecting their heads, and rising upon ^ their spurs, till one is forced to yield. Fornaecly, ^ combats were: performed between a quail and a man, the bird being put into a large box and set m the - middle of a circle traced on the floor* The man ^commenced the assault by striking it on the tead wto hwfefinger^^ocphiGhkig out some of its leathers; f *ad if the cjuail in defending itself did not pass the limits of th&'Ctfcle* its master gained the wager, that had been previously laid. If, again, through the furjj of passion* it transgressed upon the space jfcymA PECDMAMTIBS fNftHHUNG. 1 »03 sftheQbirciejdtaBHfegattislrVW dsuofc qrfafcWaa 'repeatedly -woti prizes in this maimer bwerfi'soidifor h%b sums**. ■ - •■ •** - ; n The most . common > battles, however,' of this- sort vta&> between g»me-eooks, man having learnt to set into action for his amusement the- jealous rivalry of .jthesebpalygaatotrs birds. u A lover of cock-4igbtfog," v feays( MnrPayne Knight* 4f would think it very strange : to •%» told that he Condemned his own taste for so t>Heroiaa> diversion, by expressing a dislike to see cocks ^tilled, in? a. poulterer's yard; aud the frequenters ©f nbuH^lxnting in England, or of bull+feasts in Spate* would by no means allow that a butcher's slaughter* tfsmse ttouU afford them equal oraimBat amuiininiiisA: , riftr render such spectacles interesting, there nms^be ?ajdo$play of courage, vigour, and address jriforiifeis ^b^syrnpathizmg with the energetic passions? thaftutlje bspeqtators are amused or delighted;nqad)toJoUgh*ilhe ^energies of passive fortitude might have' been dis- bpbyed by the victims of superstition, as well as 'by dthpse^of justice or injustice, they must, nevertheless, -tore been very flat and insipid, compared with those vwhieh shone forth in the varied and animated eon- Lte*fta*6f the amphitheatre, where the contention wis /equal, and life and honour the prize contended fort*" £ n Marsden inform s us, tha t in the island of Sumatra j tke passion for cock-fighting is so great, that it is . rather a serious occupation among the inhabitants (than an amusement. A man in that country is stai^y met traveling without a cock under his? afrit ; nand sometimes there will be fifty persons in company n with ineir? cocks. They often risk every tbtoy upon « tteiemsnt^rfa baiite, even their wives and daughters; d&idrit&e loser is frequently stripped of hie goads and ^arbdueedto despair* We need not, however, besur- V ■».'/! ■«"' * Julius Pontx, t)e UA\w, Hb. «. \; {jaof*i •; f PfkcipkiiofTttte, p.«3,4lb*diU' "< ' 104 1U1IY9 Nt. ftlftM. 1 prited at fbia* lifter evw in atfr own eonntrV, men of tit ranks m«yU found at caek^pHs, dividing into parties, taking intense interest in the fortune of a partiejutei' cook, and staking extravagant sums upon the issue, The mode of fighting is considerably varied in different countries, the birds being variously trained, afld arm*) \*rWr- oftwiaiva and defensive armour. The Athtntas, as J&lian records, instituted a festival* which *w evfetaatcd byeock-fightinp, la Utomoty of a victory gained over the Persians by The* ftis^ka, v#ho< u^0& observing lirn tftj^s/disfttrteil atHte onmw>enc^toer»t of the battle, pointed to iw# eaetath** wm fightings *SeV awd h«, *lb* **** i^ta* toirfag* of these animals; yet they have M tfhef motiv* than the love of victory? irfcite yds! flgftt tor yarn* household gwis, thottontW'^f l y&a* {etfterfsV aitd ycRtr liberty*" Inspired by this aftwaiy t^j>o*aed -upon their fbte* wid iv«re triumphluit; ° -feib rfo*d' ' ■' " * : * • « \ 'drflm* : hyimfffi HA^ b'ilJsrnmu bnfi i» - * ?i *}iittri>i, ■ • jSfffOidfiiiiri eii? -gnome ooiinqim ' * #* '^ittiooo isdi ni hjjiti A jnou. -* ;ftm Rfd i9b«w >tooa /s Juoihrw ^nillsv.. ' ^nijqmoo ni ano?/»q vi t tl sd lii'« siodj *orn. noqii -"nidi w/5 "AA'i ii'ii'to wl P .a>bou n: <;%i9-hi^UBb brie zs/iw ibdJ n*> r$ ,&fj)fid s 'to Jno . &i\t ftbo'o^ aid "to 'teqqitte vl?jiofjp'.Wi *i */o*ol odt i. .- -iiiaVf ,-OTrwod .ton boon oV/ ,ii*j o) Imnbri 10* Chapter VI. STRUCTURE OF EGOS. Before entering upon the details of hatching, it seems indispensable to give some account of the structure of eggs ; and in order to render this curious but difficult subject as plain as possible to those but little acquainted with physiology, we shall trace the egg from its appearance in the ovarium, or " egg- organ" (as we may call it), of the hen, till the final exclusion of the chick in the process of hatching. This subject has been investigated with much care and skill by some of the most distinguished observers and experimentalists, in consequence of the light it was expected to throw upon obscure points in the early history of other animals, whose development was of more difficult if not of impossible observation. Amongst the illustrious men who have engaged in these researches we may name Harvey, Malpighi, and Haller ; and, in our own times, Spallanzani, Blu- menbach, Scarpa, Prander, Meckel, Dutrochet, Sir £. Home, and Dr. Paris. The chief facts which they have ascertained we shall now endeavour to con- dense into a brief but explicit sketch. The egg of a bird appears in the egg-organ {ova- rium) under the form of a small yellow globe or sphere, frequently smaller than mustard-seed, but gradually increasing in size till it drops from its slen- der fastening and falls into the egg-tube (pviductui). The egg-organ contains all the eggs which are to be 104 HABITS WW BIRDS. laid for several years, each egg differing from the rest iu size as well as in composition and colour. The largest of them, which are destined to be first laid, are yellowish, while the rest gradually decrease in size, and are less and less yellow *. It has been attempted to establish an analogy between this detachment of the egg and the dropping «f ripe fruit from a tree; but though we cannot deny the resemblance of the * Boar***, Fnyiiokfie Cswfwie, i. 111. STMOftM OP mm. itr ohttttttttaOMs, we believe thftt suah an analogy, u M. Dutrochet remark*, will not atand the Uit of observation. That the increasing weight of the egg, however, may, by stretching the slender atuuhing pedicle, so attenuate the blood -Vessels that supply ft with nourishment, as to greatly weaken and ulti- mately to break It, we may with some probability suppose-. Before dropping into the egg-tube, then la no while nor shell, both or which are formed there by the addition of the glutinous substance called ulbu- tun, and of the calcareous or limy substance ennstfe tutlng the shell, as we shall Immediately shew in detail. From HI health or accidents, eggs are sometimes excluded from the egg-tube before the shell has begua to be formed, and in this state they are provincial!? termed oon eggs. When we examine the egg of a hen in the egg* organ, we perceive numerous blood-vessels branching in a sort of hair-like, very irregular net-work AVer the Whole aurface, through the substance of the envelope of . Embijo imprtgnud Er. membrane which encloses the whole, and which may be called the outer skin or covering, as (here Is within this another membrane similarly furnished with blood- vessels for supplying nourishment to the yolk and CWtfrttffog to its. Mblff4 t «P9P0ii:i *$$ )fi#4Wr though boU these envelope* ywithgr/l*t 4*re vl !Wfb bj^JoJOuview * tfcurd, of extreme de^qtf^jrafgj t9H}^^«9k(^ofawbile60kMir^ .This^n**!*}'))** unconnected with the two envelopes, and novWQf>4\> vessels., are fleen branohing through iU, su^n^ Immediately within this transparent envelope, -jyhjchi is^aimUar in texture to our own scarf-skin (^fH&WW lifts the yolk, as yet imperfec|iy farmed ; and, at ita) «4$ opposite to that where it was attached Uhfi^% egg*organ f is placed the rudiment of the future £fyiftk. (ci^neuU). The latter consists of a wfrfte tyftftfj su^tan>ce which is not separated by any m^bjajfet from .the. yellow matter of the yolk, but mejely^ie^j oeer it» waiting till the heat imparted in tb#,prp^a$aj of hatching shall develope it so that it may; feed ^o^jj tfy* yojk supplied for its first nourishment,. . ..,., ,| lB9 , This, germ* or rudiment . of the chick, has, , pp £fPlo nation, M. Dutrochet assures us, with the.ppopexjt enveloping membrane of the yolk:,— ra &ct wl^^Vfct t f9^ gR^,iW U> ascertain. He ttmoYed.the.pjRBejj ln^mipane of the yolk, which did not exhibit; ,M*ftn slightest adhesion to the germ, but left it perfec^o emjtire; and when he examined the membrane thus Re- moved by means, of the microscope, he could*. notr perceive the least breach in its substance* »ox any* difference in its texture or structure. At the point, ^ opposite to this, there may be observed, as theegft* enlarges, a whitish line or streak, occupying .nearjy -&# third of the sphere, which indicates the approaching} t rupture through which the egg is about to escape • from the pouch where it has been confined. In fact, when the, egjr. is separated, the pouch, formed hp»th* i two enveloping membranes already mentioned, open* ; in the direction of this whitish Una, and the egg co-v vexed ,by its outer membrane (which is not connected ■-- srctftfMA d# iftft. M# iURK We pooch) quits the egg-organ, and Is laid holt* of by the broad extremjty of the egg-tnbe. After thk escape of the egg, the pouch or sac which con- tained it very much resembles the bivalve capsute* of plants; and being now no longer of any use, it diminishes rapidly in size, and at last altogether dhh appears. When the egg falls into the egg-tube, it is coveted only by a single membrane, exceedingly thin; and resembling the scarf-skin in its nature; but soon- after it falls, it exhibits a second covering, a Rule ' thicker than the first This is produced by the irri- tation arising from the presence of the egg exciting ' the vessels on the interior of the tube to throw out lymph, which by coagulating forms a coating around ' tie egg. This coating juts out into small knobs at each end, which terminate in the feculent extremity of the white, and are termed ckalaze*, the envelope itself being termed the yolk-bag, or cfuAazifiroux n&nbrarte. M. Leveille supposes the theUcues to be ' absorbing vessels destined to take up the white atwf ? mi* it with the yolk during incubation * ; but this hf orily a conjecture. ' Having been thus furnished with this second * membrane, the egg advances farther along the egg- tube,' and becomes deeply imbedded in the white (albumen) that fills the tube. The white being- thence formed, the egg makes a still farther advance ;' and again is furnished from the secreting vessels of* the tube wkh another envelope, constituting the first : la^er of the membrane of shell which surrounds the white and attaches itself to the loose extremities of the two chalazes. Over this, another covering is formed, being the second layer of the membrane of the shell; and by this time the egg has got beyond half the egg-tube. In its passage through the re- * Nutrition dea Foetus, 8ro. Paris, 1799. L Ilt> ' HABITS OF BIRDS. mafning portion, It receives the hard severing or* toe shell, previous to its exclusion. V<+W en vfa], )>»! « id* sk«ll mM It will hence be manifest that, reckoning from the shell inwards, there are sis different envelopes, one only of which eotild be detected before the descent of the egg into the egg-tube. 1. The shell ; 2, the external layer of the membrane of the shell ; 9. the Internal layer; 4. the white; 6. the chalazifeTous membrane ; 6". the proper membrane. Harvey was the first who demonstrated two sepa- rate whites in an egg, each enveloped in its proper membrane, "the one," he tells us, ''thinner and more liquid, the other thicker and more clammy, and a little more inclining to whiteness, — in staler eggs, after some days' incubation, growing yellowish. As this second white covers the yolk round, so the exterior liquor encompasses it That these two STBUOTUM O* E00S. HI whites are distinct is from henee manifest, that, the outward bark or shell being taking away, if you pierce both the subjacent membranes, you shall see the exterior liquid white forthwith flow out. Then turning back the same membranes this way and that way in the platter (in which the egg is supposed to lie), the interior and thicker white will still retain its place and globose figure, being, iff fact, terminated by its proper membrane, which is so thin as to be altogether invisible to the eye. If you cut this, the second white will straightway run out and diffuse itself this way and that way, and lose its round figure, just as any liquor runs out of a bladder con* taining it when it is cut*." We are disposed to agree with the opinion first stated by Dr. Paris on the use of the white, as being mainly designed to regulate temperature* " The albumen, he remarks* being a most feeble conductor of caloric, retards the escape of heat, prevents any sudden transition of temperature, and thus averts the fatal chills which occasional migrations of the parent might induce. As an illustration of the use and in** portane* of such a' structure, I may observe, that those, fish which retain their vitality a considerable time after their removal from the water, as eels and tench, have the power of secreting a slimy and viscid fluid* with which they envelope their bodies. Is it not extremely probable that this matter, by acting like the albumen of the egg and preventing evaporation from the surface of the animal and the consequent change of temperature, may be the principal cause, of this tenacity of life f?" M. Dutrochet found that the proper membrane, of the yolk and the chalaailerous membrane are so closely applied to each other that they cannot be 1 * Kxercit, de Gener. p. 11. t Lin*. Trans, k. 3Q6, llfc HABITS OF BIRDS. separated after the egg is laid, though they may be found loose and perfectly distinct at the period of incubation. It is very remarkable, and the fact has long been known, that the chalazes and the germ (cicatricula) always observe determinate relative positions, the germ being uniformly situated at the equator of the egg 9 while the chalazes occupy the poles, or rather a place very near the poles, tor they divide the yolk into two parts of unequal size, and are not always placed in the direction of its axis* The portion opposite the germ being the heaviest, of course always tends to occupy the lowest station, so that the germ being always uppermost, is disposed in the most favourable manner for receiving the in- fluence of the heat in hatching. Harvey's explana- tion of this was, that the chalazes served, as it were, for the poles of the egg and the connections of all the membranes twisted and knit together, by which the liquors are not only conserved each in its place, but also retain their due position to one another*. But this, as Derham well remarks, was short of the; facts ; the chalazes " serve not barely to keep the liquors in their place and position to one another, but also to keep one and the same part of the yolk uppermost, let the egg be turned nearly which way it will ; which is done, by this mechanism.: the cha- lazse are specifically lighter than the whites in which they swim ; and being braced to the membrane of the yolk, not exactly in the axis qf the yolk, but somewhat out of it, causeth one side of the yolk to be heavier than the other ; so that the yolk being by the chalazae made buoyant and kept swimming in the midst of two whites, is by its own heavy side kept with the same side always uppermost t." It is on this account, as Willughby remarks, that it is nearly * • Exerci t. de Gener. p. 1 3. f Pbysico-Theology, B. viu c»4« n. 6. Sf«HOTWi£0*iMGS. aM ithpo^Wfl^io. b»kd^ »^^m ittfarfeff e*lkiw|ti* lfeebft**anbiameepreafeat8 to the mouth of the tube that peri of it tehjjehf ia opposite to the germ. The tnoftth of the tebnifaetDf pfaned laterally, transmits the egg iatht teooc position in which it reeamd it,« <4amt is to say* aritfothe gore* placed on the equator of the yotfc, the a*J» of which w nearly in the direction of the «gg« tainr* and this is- so farmed that ill elds ia not quit* the aanae at the alia of the yolk* , diit "foHowe from the preceding- obteerteetons of M» iAuttohhet that the embryo etiiele centanied fr» the giDnriifaas aw orgaak connection with « its -mothen ItfeMee'no* adhere to the ptopet mtrabeane of thai j»lk* and the y»ik dote not iesdf adhere *o the ana* oaaajtuattemhrane in which it is contained. Tfeaa attoetda with what n generally observed in the veg*> taMe femgftoinj the germs of piaftts from the instant ofisheariappearaiwfc farting )ike greenish white poStitai dfesbid of ati connection with theireapeuies, and co** s&quentiy t with the seed organs («#«m). M. I>a> tturihefceras tie first to demonstrate, diet the egg ceditafaedin the peuebof the e£gv«fg«fti has but ofle pnepetf membrane under whkh the anbatattoe of the jatk lie* loose f—*an •ofaaaraatiim which tfvoTtams Bnaot^ Halted* theory feepeoting the existence- of taw ehlbk previous to fecundation* * supported as it vaasfcon die solitary feet -of an egg -en widen a bird had sat, exhibiting a portion. t>f intestine enveloping * Qkntbdeg^ by**}, p. I fc- * ' l3 114 HABIT© 0V Bi*m: theyolk ^ii e h Intestine swa^infoCTrtl- without fpnoof lor aeid are separated, . the first being reduced, fe ashes or .animal charcoal, and the second dissipated!; whi:le> lime, > mixed with a little phosphate of kmevfe obtained. The white is without taste or smell, oft a rrisoid glary consistence, readily dissolving in- watec, ooagulabte by acids, alcohol, and water heated 40 16ot {Fahrenheit* When it has been thus coagulated, it 16 no longer soluble Ja either cold or hot water, and acquires a slight insipid .taste. The experiments Cff'Dn fiostock show that it is composed >of,'80j4) • marts, of water; • 15*5 of albumen.; and 4.^ .of nracus; exhibiting, besides traces of soda, tanaoic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The /latter we observe on eating an egg with, a silver . spoon to stain, it with blackish purple, by combining with the silver,. *nd forming sulphuret of silver. . The 'yolk possesses an insipid, bland, oily taste, .and 'when agitated with water forms a milky emulsion. When long boiled it becomes a granular, friable solid, yielding by expression a yellow, insipid fined oil. ' its .chemical constituents are water,: oil»i albu- men, and gelatine. -In proportion to the quantity «f albumen, the egg boils hard. The oil of theyeik la soluble ;in- sulphuric aether. .« <> - An important part of the vgg which we have' not hitherto named is the ai^hag. (foUiculu* ^fWft» ai*,«exfteiiie]y imatomtoAi >ih&\chkkal Wfitwfo Of frwfc pending a greater surface for the termination of the placental vessels* in order 40 rteeivc oxygenation from the uterine ones 4 thus the ptogtwf of the class of animals are Wore eonf pietely formed before their nativity, than that Of the carnivorous clashes* Calves* therefore* and lambs* can watt in a few minutes after their tyrtfi £ jgftile kittens and puppies) remain many days without opening their eyes**' " It is/' continues Dn Paris, " a verf curious tees well known to every one employed ia the concerns of the farm-yard, — that if the obtuse extremity of an *gg be perforated with the point of the smallest needle (a stratagem which malice not unfrequenily suggests.) its generating process is arrested* and it perishes like the subventaneus egg* Hence Sir Busick Harwood was led to suspect that the elastic fluid contained ift the air-bag was oxygen* and I was induced to ex* amine its nature. Can this curious problem bo solved by supposing that the constant ingress of fresh air is too highly exciting? A parallel example may be adduced from the vegetable kingdom in support of such an opinion* The young and tender plant* before M put* forth its roots, is often destroyed fay srtUHmrM w t«6s. t i t having too free a communication with the atmosphere, by which its powers are exhausted: it is to obviate such an effect that the horticulturist, taught only by experience, covers it with a glass, by which means he limits the extent of its atmosphere, and consequently decreases its respiration, transpiration, and the inor- dinate actions which would prove fatal to it*." * linn. Trtns. x. 309. tie *uw* #* #iiwfc *&i jGOfcOl?R OF ftGOS. Though we may safely lay it down as an invariable principle of nature that nothing is made in vain, and that every circumstance connected with organic life is designed to fulfil some purpose ; yet we are fre- quently at a loss in our researches to discover the designs of the Creator in particular instances. In reference to this consideration, the subject of colours is one of considerable interest, but of no less difficulty. It has given origin to many ingenious theories founded upon a few facts partially selected; while little has hitherto been done in grouping ascertained facts into a general view. It has been maintained, for example, that the varied colours of flowers were intended to please the eye of man, — an assumption to which, as well as to many others of a similar kind, the lines of Pope may perhaps be thought a sufficient answer: — " While man exclaims, 'see all things for my use,* * See man for mine !' replies a pamper' d goose." Again, if we suppose that the colour of each par- ticular flower is peculiarly adapted to its economy by the refraction or reflection of various-coloured rays of light, an opinion, at first sight, extremely plausible, we are immediately met by the fact of the varying colour in the same species, when equally healthy, and, so far as we can perceive, efficient in performing the functions of growth and seed-bearing. We have, for example, at present a collection of primroses and another of hearts-ease (Viola tricolor), of almost every 06LO*R 6P I0«» ( i |# tirade of colour from nearly pure white to dark pur* pHsh black, and yet all these varieties seem to be equally thriving and untainted with disease, or what the Linnssan botanists are accustomed to designate monstrosity. The case is the same with animals, as may be shown, among numerous other instances, m the banded snail-shell (HtHfr nemoraHs). Within the space of half a mile we have collected not less than a dozen varieties of this species,' having from one band to seven, and the bands as diversified hi the shades of their colour as in their breadth and arrangement, some being very pale and others of a dark blackish brown. In the garden spider {Epeira diadema) there is an equal diversity of markings and shades of colour^ somg- being bright orange, others dark brown, and others greenish grey, while the spots aye sometimes large and conspicuous, and sometimes smaR and indistinct*. The causes of this diversity we have been unable to trace in a satisfactory manner, though we have for many years paid considerable attention to the subject ; we have mentioned it here merely to introduce what we are about to say on the subject of the diversity of colour in the eggs of birds, By reminding the reader that the phenomenon, how* ever obscure as to its final cause, is not unexemplified hi other natural productions. If we advert to the manner in which the shell of an egg is formed, we may discover some of the circum- stances attendant on -the colouring and the markings. The shell has been ascertained to be a secretion whose basis is lime, derived from the glands of the egg tube after the nucleus, consisting of the yolk and white, has advanced from the egg-bag (ovaritttn). fiie white colour of the eggs of the barn-door fowl, the daft cream colour of those of the pheasant, the greenish brpwn of those of the nightingale, and the - 1 W H^NlMWWHNh J bright, jffj^blfi* tf t^#e^, 3fte,i»*t#rA t : ^D4(jth5 hedge-sparrow (4mustbe*pc0* uced, like the blac^ bojie* m tte^wtftvof Malabar* >y a uniform colouring mftUe^lntbe/c^Jflw^^i^Q- cjretiou; and we accordingly find* Aha* whenaubjtefaed tp t^e action of dilute hydrochloride J4, the.wJ*Qte.ah*U ot an egg, uniformly coloured* becQmeadisjiQb^tithe dissolution being a& perfect in the instanced the Wue egg of the hedge-sparrow and the green egg of Jh* jjightingaje as in the ivory-white, egg, of the wood- pecker, A similar experiment upon any uniformly* coloured sbel), suctyas the, common pale yeUow .snail* stjeil ,(#etyr lprtftys\*) ia attended wUb nearly;.*** same result* a, thin membranous pellicle /Only #a> fining, , undissolved by the acid. . But whea the bafl^ed ^qail-sJtiei) (^. 7iewor^i«) i« suited, to ,th« acid, the colpjur^d band^. having less tcalgareoufc and jnpre animal matter A fenwn in a loosened and some? wM flocquie^t fqrm, l^it ^nsjde^ly.ihicke* Jkha© the portion jifoere the, ground colour prewaila, proving that the b&nfri*' out of the reacfy of observation, while the procesa,«f forming the snail-shell ( can Ipe seep at every step. This probability is atreng^ejacd by the similar effect 6lttir*il*te %drocR16ric trfii m «he itfatfirigs; of the egg* of birds; for, if W* 4 apply this acid td the 4gg rf a songthrusti, which has a ground colour of tf bright Mue, with irregular spots and blotched of Maek, these blotches remain while the blue portion id dissolved and disappears. The same takes place With respect to the markings on the eggs of the lap- wing, the chaffinch, the yellow-hammer, the butcher- bird, the magpie, and the house-sparrow. - ' From the various examinations which we have madd of the coloured markings of these and other eggs,. they appear to consist of an animal oil, partly soluble tf Spirits of wme, similar to that which, as m. Odier htts ghown, forms the colouring matter of the whig- teases ' {elytra) of beetles* ; but there seems to be sdrrie mucilage also present This view of the matter to farther confirmed by the observations of Mr. Knapp, wfto tells us that the calcareous matter Ss partly taken up during* incubation, the markings upon the eggs tpftttlifrtag Kftle injured, and eveto to the last being almost as strongly defined as when the eggs are first ** iS-om these markings being; for the most part either i&du&ivtfy or more numerous at the larger end of the Qggl* it would appear that the glands that secrete tile* ebtotormg matter require the stimulus caused by the pressure of the egg to bring therri into activity ; audience, also, we may account for the zone of ffiavkitigs frequently conspicuous on the eggs of the ^kite-throat, the flosher {Lamm Collurio), and ft&ftry others. We have just witnessed a Tact corro- btiMaliVe of this explanation 1 . A hen canary which we pftkfed' with an aberdevine {Cardudis^Spintis) in her* second laying, (the first having proved abortive,) had twtf~eggs of different stees, one of the regular size* ' *'"Mem. Soc.d'Hist'.Nat. de Paris, Jome i. t. .* J: <. f j 0uma i ^ a Ntiluralbt, fr 323, 3d edit. ' ' bluish white, and marked at the larger end with a~ zone of irregular reddish streaks, the other about a third smaller, quite spotless, not the slightest marking being perceptible. We infer that* these appearances were in consequence of this egg being too small either to stimulate the glands to secrete, or to press them to give out their colouring matter*. This, if correct, as it appears to be, will aecount in a satisfactory manner for the great diversity of mark- ings in eggs belonging to the same species, and even to the same bird. M The eggs of birds," says Mr. Knapp, " in general vary much, and are occasionally Very puzzling to identify, when detached from their nests, as the colourings and markings differ greatly in the same species, and even nest. Those of one eolour retain it, with only shades of variation ; but w^en there are Motehings or spots, these are at times Very dissimilar, occasioned, in great measure, pro- bably by the age of the bird ; though this cannot aecount for the difference of those in an individual nest. Those of marine birds, especially the guillemot (Colymbus Troile) are often so unlike each other, that it requires considerable practice to arrange ther»t«'* He adds, ** that though the marks are so Variable, yet the shadings and spottiiigs of one species never wander so as to become exactly figured like those of another family, but preserve, year after year, a certain characteristic figuring/' This is indeed generally true, although the eggs of the goldfinch and the chaffinch frequently exhibit nearly the same markings ; and we have seen more than one egg of the chaffinch so like in marking to those of the yellow-hammer that they could only be distinguished by an experienced eye J. The eggs of the house-sparrow, as Mr. Knapp remarks, are •J.R. f Jour* *rf a Nat. p. 224* JJ.Rt <34Hi, , } t . green eggs are met with among many strong bitfUt s#ch as the herons, able to defend themselves against plundet ei». - A light gree^n colour* veiling toward ft yellowish tint, 4s found among the eggs pi the mepjf (kdlimca* which lay among the., gross* .without making more than an imperfect oest, which soon djs? appears beneath the quantity of eggs; l»k». the, hoopoe,^ the P&dri* oin&ms,, the pheasant*, The same colour is. also rem** ked among several of *hft Palmpukst. which q«U their eggs, when they, lay them, but whieh are attentive w wa^hh)g.4fc)eia>i*& the swans* the geese, &e f)tt€k>|.|he,dJTers 9 4^ Thai m 3 186 HABITS OF Bl RDS. egg* of certain great birds which make their nests in 4he open air, but are well able to defend them- selves* are a dirty white, as may be observed among the vultures, eagles, storks. Among the eggs of a mixed colour, those are to be distinguished which have a white ground, and those of which the ground differs from white. The eggs with a white ground ate those- of the European oriole, the long-tailed-tit, the cole- tit, the nut-hatch, the creeper, and the ebnurion swallow. Most of the eggs with a white ground are concealed in well-covered nests. The eggs of a mixed colour, and of which the ground is not white, at least a pure white, are those of the teak, the grass-hopper bird {Curruca locutteUa, Efg of the Sky-Lark. Filming), the yellow-hammer, the wagtail, &cv? then those of the crows, the jays, the thrusbesy the quails, &c., with most of the singing birds, the colour of the interior of whose nest harmonizes with that of the eggs *. Such is the theory; and M. Gloger, after exa- mining all the birds of Germany, is said to have proved that the facts universally correspond to it. In conformity with the same notion, Dr. Darwin remarks that the eggs of the hedge-sparrow {Accentor modularis) are greenish blue, like those of magpies and crows, which are seen from beneath in wicker nests, between the eye and the blue of the firma* ment; but he forgets that the eggs of the song- thrush, which are no less bright blue than those of * Verhvri, 4er (Jwjlspb^t N«V ^winde, in Berlin, aanonnor mm :m the feed^sparraw, cn«nat be ueem between *h» eye and the firmament, for the ■nest is compactly plaVi terad. Still less will his doctrine apply to the eggs of the stone-chat (Sasicaia rubioola t Becw- mm), which builds en the ground; and least of nil to those of the red-start, which neeties in the hole •f a wail or of a tree. Were the notion of these writers, indeed, not so commonl y ditfused as we have observed it to be in popular compilations, it is so obviously wrong to those who are acquainted with tbe facts, tlrat it would be wasting time to enter upon its refutation. As it is we shall stale: a few other objections: "-Rooks," says Professor Brando, '' buikl a neat particularly exposed on the highest trees ; the jack- daws conceal theirs in holes; while the lapwing, woodcock, and snipe lay en the bare ground, and yet the colour of the eggs of all these birds is nearly identical. Again, the blackbird and song-thru tk are birds of very similar habits ; they build in the same places; but tbe blackbird lays a- dull rusty-coloured eggfr and the thrush a clear bluo one, with . a iff w dark, well-defined spots. . (r The woodpeckers, it is assarted, lay white eggs ; they ongfat according to tbe theory, but their practices seem very different. The hawks, which' are SO able and accustomed to defend their nests, we should exsoet to and with pure white eggs, -but they are dull. coloured. and incaospicaoU*.; tke.buas.srdj,-tU8 mast mmutoymmtmg the tvibey hwne. p*s»#i ib!8n* mmQita*r***ggs of aery. Tbo nnurpie is a^ona} biroV^egirs'v^i coneealed, airi the mest fortified 4: bufattaa jcotonr of this egg is dull, like those of too rook, feeodcoeki &c Two very similar eggs jam those of the redstart and hedge-sparrow,: the fasn%er< anihfe i» Befesv the latter does not Toe cuckoo sfery commonly seleets the nest of the badger sparrawy depositing a spotted brown egg among, bright- Woo ones. After this, if we admit that the brightest whito eggs are to be found with birds whose .nests are the nrtst concealed, &s the kmgvfisher^ wryaeck, wren; tit»< *parrow, and especially the bank-swailow, raa£ W«7 oat rather' infer that;: the interior of these nesta being peculiarly dark, the bright white colour is osen vontoai tathe bird to enable her to distinguish one Sg from another? At all eveats* we must regard i 649ger > 8 hypothesis as ingenious* rather itfaM exported hf ftcteA" .;■ * M. Gtoger has been unfortunate ia hie *xaj»pkr green-. i*h eggs, spatted or picked with brown. It has been remarked titet the while or whitish eggs in swimming' birds an abort and rounded, while the yellow ot greenish and spotted eggs an very much elongated. The eggs of the grail*} [uxiderx] have spats on a grey, yeUow, yellowish, green, greenish, bluish, red* «T reddish ground. They are rarely spheroid, b«ing mostly elongated, and diminishing very rapidly from the large eud. White is tt>e commonest colour of the eggs of the gsjjj n aeaa ( aontt, however, nave a green , evLov n or wows. t*l greenish, or yellowish ground. It is remarkable that the eggs which certain species deposit on green herbs partake more or less of this colour. The passeres have eggs, the ground of which is white or whitish, blue or bluish, green usually spotted with deep colours, such as red, brown, and black. The torn-tit kind, which nestle in the hollows of trees, have eggs altogether- white, or white picked with red. The same is the case with the swallows and martins. The larks, pipits, &c. have the tggs of an earthy hue V * Cuvier's Animal Ringdoib, Aves, !.. 138, Iff ' HAWTS OF BltDS. *"" : * n> ■ ' • ; . * • •. • ' * A *}•>'• » / Chapter VIII. FACTS OBSERVED IN BATCHING. - 1 t < 1 ' I* is indispensable to hatching, that an equable 1 temperature be kept up of about 96P'9tixt:W'WP f * Rtatiin., for at lower temperatures the living priti- ' cipie appears to become torpid and unable 'to 1 ' assimilate the nourishment provided fdr developing 1 ' the embryo. Proceeding upon this principle, 1 titer' Egyptians, as well as those who have triecT tfi£' experiment in Europe, have succeeded by means of" artificial heat in hatching eggs without -any aW r from the mother birds. f '^ One of the most remarkable stories respec&ffn? artificial hatching is that arising out of a girlish* superstition of the Roman Empress Livia. The tale is told by Pliny: "She took an eg^-^nd 1 ever carried it about her in her warme bosome ; arid ' if at any time she had occasion to lay it away, she- would convey it closely out of her own warme lap into her nurse's for fear it should chill *." M. Reau- mur mentions some modern instances of a similar kind: "One lady hatched four goldfinches out of five eggs from the same nest ; one of the eggs having proved a rotten one, she was obliged to keep them warm only for ten days. Another lady/' he adds, " told me a more extraordinary, though by no means an incredible fact of the same kind, assuring me she had seen a female lap-dog sit on eggs quite • Holland's Plinie, x. 55. FACTS OBfft*y*l*,f$.rttA£#HIKG. 1»> to the time of the hatching of the chickens, the creature having taken an affection for the eggs, which she was fond of having under her, for some reason not easily assigned, though assuredly not with the desire of hatching chickens *." Pliny seems to infer (hat the story of the Empress Livia gave origin to " the device of late, to lay eggs in some warme place and to make a gentle fire un- derneath of small straw or light chaffe, to give a kind o^awftjerateheate; but evermore the . eggs> inust be ? tutged by man or woman's hand both night and da** ; an$^p *t the set time, they look foe chickens andthac}) ttypntk" Bu$ ? , though such,, experiments, jnay. have, hie* IJt^a revived, they were assuredly not new* for ^ tb,e$ are- mentioned by Aristotle and J)ipdoru£*thopgtet in^a* rather vague manner. . Aristotle, says tbat *g?g$J uNti^fe* warned and qhickens hatched ill the. eartfaj pg^^y* deducing such an .inference from the ckcumT,. stance of the eggs of crocodiles and a#W% leptita*,' b^nj; »t^u* T hatc^ed. In the same. way he *appea*# to hftye;*fcen thinking of the eggs of, snakes wbfcht aq^jhatched in, dung-hills, when, he tells,. m &a$: ^rSffyi^^^y cov ^ *g£ s with, dung in : order tfci hf^ cifckens,-— a circumstance quite. inaposaib^j a% f $re ,ajjall presently see, Diodoms is^ more par-n tic^ar. in cktai)ing the process, which consisted: he?, saj^, ^n filling a vessel with the dung, of fowls pajse^L through a sieve, over which were, laid fathers, and upon these the eggs, with their. smallest eitf&s, upward ;., the eggs were then covered, with >a/ bej#w, and above ought to be put i$to»piUows!§. .,- Jf$. Reaumur, : however, > assures us>that a]L tfHSn inlirtrb^^^f^^^y ;,!fe»-aft»^.a; wholevyear?* varied* * L'Art de faire Eclorre, chap. i. f Holland's Plinie, x. 55* I Aldrovandi Ornjujotag m> «♦ •-!.',-$ De Subti litate. N !$* habits o* Biiifrs. Experiments, repeated incessantly, and with such assiduity as almost to. tire out his patience, ' he was unsuccessful in hatching a single chicken by means of dung, though he at length succeeded in doing so by a different method. Success, as Thevenot informs us, also attended an experiment made in Tuscany, but it was under Egyptian direction ; for the grand duke; in order to indulge the laudable curiosity long 1 characteristic of the house of Medici, sent to Egypt for a person skilled in the management of the process. Modern travellers, who mention the art as prac- tised in Egypt, are very deficient in' their details ; but we ought to wonder* the less at this when Father Sicard informs us that k fa kept a secret even in Eirypt, and is only known to 1 the inhabitants of the village of Berme, and a few adjoining places in the Delta, who leave it as an heir-loom to their children, forbidding them to impart it to strangers. When the beginning of autumn, the season most favourable for hatching, approaches, the people of this village dis- perse themselves over the country, each taking the management of a number of eggs entrusted to his eare by those unacquainted with the art. The sob- sequent operations consist, first, in the building of Suitable ovens ; and, secondly, in causing the eggs placed there to be subjected to a regular heat. The mystery does not, however, lie m the construction of the oven, for the outside is not only open to all, but strangers are even allowed to witaess the curious process going on in the interior. The grand secret is the manner of causing the eggs to be warmed that the chickens may be gradually developed, and St last hatched. The most essential condition of this process consists m keeping the eggs at the proper degree of temperature, and consequently ia knowing how to manage the tire that heats the eves, FACTS 0MKTSD I« HATCHING, Egyptian Egg-o»«. According to the best descriptions of the Egyptian mtanai, at hatching-oven, it is a brick structure about nine feet high. Tile middle is turned into a gallery ■bout three fent wide and eight feet high, extending from one end or the building to the other. This gallery forms the entrance to the oven, and com- mands its whole extent, facilitating- the various op* rations indispensable for keeping the eggs at tfae proper degree of warmth. On each side of this gallery there is a double row of rooms, every room on die ground-floor having one over it of precisely the same dimensions namely, three feet in height, four or five in breadth, and twelve or fifteen In length. These have a round hole for an entrance of about a foot and a half in diameter, wide enough tor a man to creep through ; and into each are put four or fire thousand eggs. The number of .rooms in one mama) varies from three to twelve ; and the building is adapted, of course, for hatching from forty to eighty thousand eggs, which are not laid on the bare brink floor of the oven, but upon a mat, or bed of flat, or other nou-conducting material. HABITS OV BIBDI. In each of the upper rooms is a fire-place for warming the lower room, the heat being com- municated through a large hole in the centre. The fire-place is a sort of gutter, two inches deep and sis wide, on the edge of the floor, sometimes all round, but for the most part only on two of its sides. As wood or charcoal would make too quick & fixe, they 1'acts mw wn m batching, iw bujn. the dung of cons or camels, mixed with .straw, feriiied into cakes and dried. The doors which opin hUo the gallery serve for chimneys to let out Ik siaoke, which finally escapes through openings 1p fte-sSl* of the gallery itself. The Are in tha gui- tars is only kept up, according to some, for an huar in. the morning and an hour at night, which Uiay nail the dinner and cupper of tha chicken*; white others say it is lighted four timae a-day. The dif- ference probably depends on the temperature of the weather. When the smoke of the fires has sub- aided, the openings into the gallery from the several •coma are carefully stuffed with bundles of eoarafe few, by which the heat is more effectually confined than it could be by a wooden door. Truim™ section and election of si Egjptiin Ew-ovni. When the fires have been continued for an inde- finite number of days, eight, ten, or twelve, according to the weather, they are discontinued, the heat ac- quired by the ovens being then sufficient to finish the hutching, which requires in all twenty-one days, the same time as when eggs are naturally hutched by » hen. About the middle of this period a number of Che eggs in the lower are moved into the upper room*, in order to give the embryos greater facility in making their exit from the shell, than they would hjrte if*, number of eggs were piled up above them: «3 ■ MABITS OP BtKDS. ITrmnsypne IHtlOD ud penpflCtireelQTHIion of u Egyptian Egn-OTf n. The Dumber of ovens dispersed in the several dis- tricts of Egypt has been estimated at 3S6; and this number can never be either increased or diminished without the circumstance being known, as it is indis- pensable for each mamal to be managed by a Ber- mean, none of whom are permitted to practise their art without a certified licence from the Aga of Berme, who receives ten crowns for each licence. If, then, we take into account that six or eight broods are annually hatched in each oven, and that each brood consists of from 40,000 to 80,000, we may conclude that the gross number of chickens which are every year hatched in Egypt amounts to nearly 100,000,000. They lay their account with losing about a third of all the eggs put into the ovens. The Bermean, indeed, guarantees only two-thirds of the eggs with which he is entrusted by the undertaker, so that out of 45,000 eggs he is obliged to return no more than 30,000 chickens. If he succeeds in batching these the overplus becomes his perquisite, which be adds to the sum of thirty or forty crowns, besides his board, that is paid him for his six months' work. Proceeding upon the mistaken account of the Egyptian method of batching, given by Aristotle and Piodorus, M, Rtfaumur (ri^d a number of ingenious FACTS OBSERVED IK HATCHING. 139 experiments with dung in a state of fermentation, an abstract of which may be interesting, were it only to show, the importance of certain circumstances to the success of hatching. It is well known to gardeners that beds of fresh dung become hot a few days after ihey have been made up; and that the heat sub- sequently increases more and more every day till it becomes considerable enough to give pain to the hand, and consequently much stronger than what ought to be employed in hatching. In fact the dung hot-bed used by M. Reaumur almost dressed the eggs and niade them fit for eating, though they were in a pot The heat in question, however, is by no means steady or uniform in temperature, neither is it ever Hie same at different depths, or in different parts of 4he same bed. In order to obviate these diffi* Unities; this ingenious experimenter conceived the *3e& of only employing the dung to heat a cavity Or oVen instead of plunging the eggs into it ; and he itegah by trying two beds, not so wide as cucumber beds; parted by a narrow path, closed at the ends, and forming an oblong oven or cavity, the air of which was kept warm by the fermentation. The whole was covered in by boards, though not very closely, and the temperature was ascertained by means of thermometers placed in various parts ; and, to shelter it from rain which would have injured the eggs, it was placed in a large coach- house. " A few days after it had been constructed," con- tinues the enthusiastic naturalist, " the thermometer informed me that the heat of the oven was much superior to what I wanted ; but as soon as it was reduced to the degree desired I introduced 200 eggs into the oven, enough for a first experiment, though it was large enough to contain above 1000. The greater part of the eggs in, question were ranged} Mt MABITS QW WW*. - ... upon shelves, the rest were put in baskets, ant} ^ made myself very certain that they were all kept nearly in the same degree of heat they would have* had under a hen. I could hardly let the first twenty? four hours pass without attempting to ascertain the, effect produced upon the eggs ; and I broke two, ii% which I had the pleasure of seeing the little heart, by this time developed, already begin to beat, and the smafl drop of blood, sufficient to fill it, entering and de- parting". This was a sight which a naturalist could not soon be tired of were it to last much longer than its usual time of six or .eight minutes. For the qexjt four or five days I had the satisfaction of being able to keep up the uniformity of temperature, and o| observing the progress made by the embryos in the, eggs, some of which I broke daily to ascertain t\m* I even began at length to feel regret in breaking them, under the notion that I should lose so many chickens out of nay number* " The eggs of this as well as those of a great many other broods began, at the eighth or tenth day, to disappoint my expectations. Till then I h&4 found in the eggs which I broke the chickens a# forward as I could wish ; the scene soon change*}, and the odour diffused over the oven informed ova that some of the eggs, at least, had begun to ba tainted. These, indeed, were easily distinguished from the sound ones, by the tainted matter in some instances having burst through, and, in others, ooaed out of the pores of the shell. I had these tainted eggs all carefully taken, out ; but as they every day increased in number, I concluded that some accident had occurred fatal to them all ; for though the chicks in some of them were formed, and even leathered, they were ail dead. "As I had succeeded in bringing these chickens through two-thirds of the regular period of hatching FACTS OBSERVED IN HATCHING. 141 as well as they would have grown and been formed if the eggs had been kept all the time under a hen, there appeared to be sufficient hope that, by re- doubling my attention, I might afterwards fully succeed. I therefore put some fresh eggs into the same oven, continuing every day to put in the eggs laid by my own hens, taking the precaution to write the date upon each. But I was again disappointed, several of them giving evidence of being tainted as early as the twelfth day. " Upon resuming my experiments the following November, T caused chicken-ovens to be constructed of different forms, one after another, some in the form of a baker's oven ; but these not appearing to suit, I reverted to my first plan, and had one con- structed in the month of February in a stable large enough to contain six horses. When the temperature had risen to the proper degree, I put in the eggs. The dung of the bed was very moist, and the season being ill suited to dry it, the inside of the oven, when- ever the cover was taken off, was seen to be filled with a thick foggy vapour, so very considerable that the eggs were continually bedewed with it as if sprinkled with water. Some of the eggs were laid in open boxes, having sand strewed over the bottom, which was converted by this moist vapour into a sort of mire. But though the eggs in this mire were nearly as moist as if they had been plunged in water, the embryos continued to be developed till the seventh day, beyond which none of them lived. " The sides of this oven, however, at length be- came dry, and no perceptible vapour remained, yet all my trials with it during two months and a half proved equally abortive, though I was daily imagin- ing and endeavouring to obviate the causes of the • failure. After many such trials, enough to wear out the most enduring patience, I at last clearly perceived HABITS OF BIBBS. that the chief point to be attended to was to keep the eggs properly warm by the heat of the dung, without being exposed lo the vapour exhaled from it, which pervaded the pores of the shell and became fatal to the embroyo. " With this view I caused one of those cask a, called half-bogsheads, to be sunk into the bed of dung, after having had a hole dug large enough for iU admission, taking greet care to have the edges raised three or four inches above the surface of the hot-bed. The top alone had been previously con- verted into a moveable lid by means of, cross-bars, and one large and eight smaller holes were made in it and bunged with corks, to serve as regulators of toe temperature within, The eggs were let down into the casks in round baskets, about two inches in diame- ter lees than the cask, some being deep and others shal- low, the former containing two and the latter one layer of eggs. I caused three of these baskets to be placed in the oven, which contained about two hundred eggs, in such a manner that the lowest was some inches FACTS OBSBtVXB IN BATCHING. US distant from the bottom, and the highest a few inches loner than the upper edge. When the time had elapsed in which my previous experiments had failed, not one egg in this new oven whs tainted, and at the end of twenty days the gardener, who had taken ears of so many unsuccessful broods, came in the evening to tell me, with the greatest possible emotion, what he knew must be very pleasing news, namely, that one of my eggs was chipped, and the chick could be heard within endeavouring to chirp. This chicken did not disappoint our hopes, having been hatched next day, and it was even preceded by some others, and followed by a great many more. From that time, indeed, I began to see some hatched every day*." HataliiBg Efgi in dung. The problem with respect to heat generated* by fermentation was thus solved ; but M. Reaumur did not stop here. The rector of St, Sulpice, anxious to introduce the plan, applied to the naturalist for instructions on the subject; but, instead of recom- mending dung-beds, M. Reaumur imagined ha might * L'Arl de dire Ecelorre, Mem. ii. 144 HABITS 0*' BIROS. " take advantage of the heat of the bread-ovens belong) ng to the extensive benevolent institution called L'Rn- fant Jesus. After several trials to ascertain the heat of a room which was situated over this bnke-honse, and such arrangements as were necessary to insure uniformity, it was determined to arrange the eggs on the shelves of a small cupboard placed there, and the care of them was entrusted to the nuns of the establishment. In one of the first experiments made here, the charge of keeping a single box, containing a hundred eggs, was entrusted to a very ingenious nun, who was really enthusiastic in the business. Above half of these eggs proved abortive; bat k wu worthy of remark, that about twenty were hatched one day sooner than they would have been under a hen. When the first of them appeared the nun was transported with joy, and directly ran to tell the news to every body she could find. it of lbs Prioijof L'Enfut J6ni FACTS OB8EKVBD IN HATCHING. 145 ; It was an obvious inference from the success of these experiments, that bakers and pastry-cooks might apply their ovens to a similar use by constructing over them hatching chambers, and that h* this way the multiplication of chickens might be extended to an immense amount— far exceeding even that of Egypt. It does not appear, however, that these notions have, ever been carried into effect, or that anything has been attempted beyond a few experiments of small extent, in any part of Europe. A few years ago an individual in the vicinity of London contrived an apparatus for batching by means of steam, and exhibited it in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly; but we have not learned that he ever carried his invention so far as to make a trade of the chickens which he batched. The importance of keeping the eggs at a uniform temperature is beautifully illustrated by the care which hens may be observed to take in arranging the eggs they are hatching. Amongst other curious facts con- nected with this subject, is that of a hen throwing out or eating the eggs which she cannot conveniently oover. A few days ago we had brought to us three eggs of the wood- wren {Sylvia sibilatrix, Bech stein), and being anxious to have them hatched we intro- duced them, after warming them slightly, into the nest of a canary, then sitting upon four eggs of her own. In the course of the day two of her own eggs had disappeared, having, we inferred, been de- stroyed by her because she could not cover the seven so as to keep them at a uniform temperature, the three small eggs being nearly equal in size to the two which were gone*. It is, no doubt, for the same • J.R, 146 HABltf!* 6V BIRD*. reason that the birds in whose nests the cuckoo parasitically deposits her egg, often, if hot always, turn out or destroy their own to make room for hers. During the process of hatching the mother-bird acts as if she knew that by keeping the eggs all in one position, some would be more favourably treated than others. Chapter ?X, EVOLUTION Of 9H8 AH/OK. Ji baa Ipng been * favourite occupation with philo- sqphical naturalists, to observe the changes which an. egg uqdergpea, in hatching, from tha first day that the mother sits upon it till (ho thick breaks through t|ie pvison-wplls of the shell and emerges into open day- The chief writers who have attended to (1)0 various stages of this curious and interesting prqr gresg, are Fabric! us d'A<]Mapendente, Harvey, Mal- piphi, Maitre-Jean, Kouumur, Haller, Scarpa, Mec* kel, Blumenbach, Prout, Dutrochet, and Sir E. Home. The statements of these different inquirers we thai) now compare and condense. An Eff Hi il appear t IwtWe hoan ifter inmbatiu, vitfe. t aMfniitd *liw (Tk.ii and ibo following cat., whirb illntiriU (he etenp* !■ rlw «(f, axe copied, by parmiHlon 1 . from Bit E. Home'i Comparmtivii Anatomy.) 14b habits of birds. In about twelve hours from the time the mother begins to sit, the commencement of life is percep- . lible in the germ (cicatricula). What seems to be the head; of the chick appears joined to the bod; and swims in the surrounding fluid; and towards the close of the first day this apparent head is seen bent back by its enlargement. So says Halter ; but Blumenbach thinks this a deceptive appearance, pro- duced only by the destined abode of the future chick, no trace of which, he says, is perceptible before the Kcond day, when it assumes an incurvated form resembling a thread of jelly enlarged at the eitremi- ties, very closely surrounded by fluid, from which it is scarcely distinguishable. The first appearance of red blood is perceptible on the yolk-bag towards the end of the second day, a series of points being ob- served which form grooves ; these closing coosti- EYOLtWQV 07 THE CHICK, )4f fqtf vessels, the trunks of which become attached to the chick. [Jailer says, we can now perceive (races of the back-bone (vertebra;), like small glo- bules, disposed on the two sides of the middle of the ■pine, the wings and the blood-vessels of the navel, distinguished by their dull colour, also beginning to appear. The neck and breast are unfolded, the head, is enlarged, the outlines of the eyes and their three surrounding coats now became perceptible, and tljs heart is seen pulsating and the blood circulating. AaKjsju.il win Blumenbach does not mention his having seen the heart before the commencement of the third day, when it resembles a tortuous eanal, and consists of three dilatations lying close together and arranged in a triangle, one part of which is properly the right auricle, forming at this period a common auricle, , and another is the only ventricle, which afterwards 130 HABITS OF BEKDS. becomes the left ventricle; the third part (bvNras aorta:') is considerably bulged out. It is remarka- ble that the heart at this period projects beyond the breast, and beats in triplets: first, on re- ceiving into the auricle the blood from tbe veins; secondly, on discharging this blood into the arte- ries; and thirdly, on forcing it into the vessels of tbe navel, — motions which will continue for twenty-four hours, if the embryo be taken out of the egg. The veins and arteries may now also be seen branching over the surface of the brain, and tha spinal marrow beginning to extend along the back; or rather,. as has been beautifully shown by Marcel de Serres", Tiedemannt. and Cams}, the spinal ABKHOpeBe majniAtd riaw of ihn Em trro Chick, »n which iibhewtt the first ippe&riaccon he pnjtciul blscd-vewd!, * Du CervHU, Paris, 1826 ; and Sur le Cervelet, Paris, 1823. + Gescbiehte draGehims des Foetus, 4to. Leipzig, j Compiraiive Anntom y, by Gore EVOLUTION OF THB CHICK. 151 marrow itself, becoming enlarged, forms the brain. At this period the fluid surrounding the fetus be- comes more consistent and less transparent. About the same time also the spine, which was at first ex- tended in a straight line, becomes bent, and the joints of the bone (vertebra) become distinct. The eyes are distinguished by their black pigment and com- paratively large size, as they afterwards are in conse- quence of a peculiar slit in the lower part of the iris, a circumstance also observable in the nimble lizard (Lacerta agilii) and other animals which have no pupillary membrane. On the fourth day the pupil of the eye can be dis- tinguished as well as the aqueous and vitreous hu- mours. In the head are perceived five vesicles, filled with a fluid; and these aa they enlarge approach each other, coalesce, and form the brain, invested with its membranes. The wings also grow, the thighs begin 11, with 1 ununified vitw of Ik* If? • HABITS Of BIRDS. Urappear, and the body extends to ancttbird of-an inch ia length. Several other important orpins now become visible, as the stomach, tha intestines, and the liver. A vascular membrane begins to form about the navel, and grows during ihe succeeding days so rapidly that it covers almost the whole inner surface of the shell, apparently performing the office of lungs -in carrying on the process of respiration. On the fifth day the lungs begin to be forced, but cannot, of course, perform their functions, on account of tba circumambient fluid. The vessels «f the navel rise out of the abdomen ; the heart is con- fined in avery thin membrane that covers the qbest; and the muscles appear over the body in the form of an unctuous envelope. An En u SI uppeln Bti diyt iftn inonbrntsen. with a nip4td linr oF thu Chick. . On the sixth day the gall-bladder is first per- ceptible, and the first indications of voluntary motion EVOLUTION OP THE CHICK. 158 may be remarked. The spinal marrow, divided into two parts, is extended along 1 the trunk ; the liver, previously whitish, becomes of a darker dusky colour. It is now seven lines* in length. AmEjjmit app«niiid«jiifter incubation, villi* ■njoiSed riiw «t On the seventh day it is easy to distinguish the bill ; and the skin, with the germs of the feathers, becomes obvious. On the eighth day the brain, the wings, thighs, and legs, have taken nearly their ultimate form ; but, according to Scarpa, are still soft, flexible, and pel- lucid f. The two ventricles of the heart also appear like two bubbles, contiguous and joined above to the substance of the auricles; while two successive mo- tions are now observed in them, as well as in the auricles, which resemble two separate hearts. • A tine is the twelfth part of a French, or rather leu than the eleventh of an English inch. t Da Penil. Ossium Structura Comment. 4to. Lipi, 1799. II* HASH'S M »H8f. ,a Efj H il «ppeiri «tea d>ri »fi«( iocotatioB, lfilh * ntpriltj Yifr KVOI.tTTIOW OF THB CHICS. An til U It appMri nine dift "fttr intaWiiun. Tat MM fcjg lUMd more Id itt right •id*, 1S6 HABITS OP BIHDs, On the ninth day the bones begin to be formed, appearing in the form of hard bony joints, the middle of the thigh and leg-bones, according to Scarpa, becoming yellowish. These form the rudiments of the bony ring of the sclerotic, resembling a circular row of the most delicate pearls. 'At trie same period the marks of the beautiful yellow vessels on the yolk- bag begin to be visible. On the tenth day the muscles of the wings are seen completely formed, and the germs of the feathers appear enlarging. Scarpa up to this period could observe nothing hard, but a yellow wrinkling of beautiful network*. An Egg u It *p|>un lea diji after iombMfca. On the eleventh day the arteries begin to be distinct, those which were previously at a distwre* from the heart now joining and cohering to it. It * Zool. Journ, i i. 433. KV0LUX4E* OP TU QUICK. The Embryo Click ta>« from Ot preceding Egj, Kith the unto* and was dow that Scarpa first observed the wrinkles in the leg and thigh-bojies to become rough and hard, and red spots to appear. On the twelfth or thirteenth day, if the membrane (chorion) enveloping (he white of the egg be ex- amined by very cautiously opening the shell, it will present, Blumenbach says, without any artificial in- jection, one of the most splendid spectacles that occurs in the whole organic creation,— the most simple, yet the most perfect substitute for the lungs. It exhibits a surface covered with countless blood- vessels, venous and arterial, branching through its texture. The veins are of a bright scarlet colour, carrying oxygenated blood to the chick ; while the arteries, on the other hand, are of a deep crimson or livid red, bringing the carbonated blood from the body of the embryo. The functions of the two are thus the reverse of those they perform after the chick respires. From the trunks of these arteries being connected with the iliac vessels, and on account of HABITS OV SlfcDS. Tta»Bifcl*tt«(i*MfrVw"!'tli.«ttnirtl«K«ltl»WiW« moamL EVOLUTION OF THE CHICK. Tho Emhijo lit tke [rfcjilipjj Etc, upend lo tho* fh» count of iti« prin- cipal blogd-Teufli vblili |o to the veaiclt ud U the ir*o)»j membruw. the thinness, of their coats, they furnish the beat object for demonstrating the circulation of the blood in a warm-blooded animal. According to Scarpa, the thigh-bones, when dried, now preserve their shape. On the fourteenth day the feathers appear well developed ; and if the embryo be taken out of the e ffff> «d. Francofurti. 144 HABITS OP BIRDS, whin the chick comes forth. In pigeons, and pro. bably in other birds which do not run about and fee4 the instant they are hatched, the bill-scale does not fall off for mare than a week Mr. Yarrel thinks the hardness of the bill-scale may be proportioned to the thickness of tbe shell, from its being very prominent, hard, and sharp in a preserved chick of the Egyptian goose (Aiiwr Gambensu). The position of the chick in the egg appears no less unfavourable to its. breaking through the shell than the soilness of the bill ; for it is rolled up almost like a ball, the neck sloping towards the belly, with the bead in the middle, and the bill thrust under the tight wing, as in birds when asleep. The feet also are bent up under the belly, as chickens and pigeons sometimes are when trussed for the spit, the claws being so bent back that their convex part almost touches the head. The forepart of tbe chick, as, PtritiMtf Vie Stick U tfci En. HON OF THE CHICK. Po.ilion of tho Chick i» m E ls . Reaumur observed, is towards the biggest end ; and Dr. Prout adds, that it "is so situated in tbe egg, as, by its superior weight on one side, to assume such a position that the beak shall be uppermost *.* It is surrounded by a thick strong membrane, which retains it in the attitude just described, and is appa- rently unfavourable to its requisite movements. But closer inspection shows that all these circumstances tend to facilitate rather than retard its operations on the shell, which it must break before it can escape. The bill, indeed, though placed under the wing, as in the case of a sleeping bird, is thrust so far as to project beyond it towards the back, and the head, by moving backwards and forwards alternately, causes the bill to strike upon the shell, the action being partly guided by the wing and the body. It is to be • Phil. Tram, for 1833. 1$6 HABITS OF BIRDS. remarked, that the head, compared with the bulk of the body, is very heavy } and ft raakes, together with the neck, a \qid whicty the chick, «ven for several days after it* exclusion, can with difficulty support. But in the egg, let the position be what it may, the head is supported either by the body or \>y the wing, or by both together ; and the greater th8 size of the head, the more efficient of course are the blows of the bill. The length of the neck causes it to be bent at this time, though after the first fourteen days it becomes nearly straight ; but what seems to be done out of necessity to procure room, is here, as in many other operations of nature, the best thing that possibly could have been done out of choice. By watching at the proper time, Reaumur fre- quently heard chicks hammering uppn the shell with their beaks ; and in the more advanced stages of the operation he could actually see them at work, through the translucent membrane. The result of the first strokes is a small crack, commonly situated nearer the larger than the, smaller end of the egg. When this crack is perceptible, the egg is said to be chipped The membrane is seldom ruptured in the first inr stance, even when the hard part, of the shell over it ** detaphed ; but in one instance, while Riaumur wa£ observipg the operations of a chick by candle-light, it was hard at, work pecking at the membrane diveste4 pf its shell, It di, which was not • Ray'sWillughby, p. 156. t Mftgia Naturalis, iv. 26. lf$ HABITS OF BIRDS. able to feed without assistance. I caused her to b$ educated ; and she was hardly fledged, when I re? ceived from another place a nest of three or four unfledged sky-larks. She took a strong liking to these new-comers, which were scarcely younger than herself; she attended them night and day, cherished them beneath her wings, and fed them with her bill, Nothing could interrupt her tender offices. If the young ones were torn from her, she flew to them as soon as she was liberated, and would not think qf effecting her own escape, which she might have done $ hundred times. Her affection grew upon her } she neglected food and drink ; she now required the same support as her adopted offspring ; and expired at last, consumed with maternal anxiety. None of the young ones survived her. They died one after another; so essential were her cares, which wer$ equally tender and judicious*." A more singular instance still is related by Mr, Srpderip. " On the 27th of April, 1820, 1 saw $ cat giving suck to five young rats and a kitten ; th§ rats were about one-third grown. It was diverting {# observe the complacency with whicfi the young creatures sucked }n the liberal stream, which the teats of their foster-mother supplied ; and curious to see the prey cherished by the milk of the destroyer, The cat paid the same maternal attentions to th$ young rats, in licking them and dressing their fur, as she did to her kitten, notwithstanding the greaj disparity of size. The man, who exhibited this phe- ppmenon in the Strand, near Essex- street, said, that the cat had kittened fourteen days, and at that time, had three kittens at her teats, when he found this nest of young rats, which seemed a few days old, and turned them in at night to the cat for her prey ; in the morning he found the kittens sharing the • Oiseftiur, Art, L'Alouette. SHELTERING OP THE YOUNG. Iti inilk of their mother with the rats. Two of the kittens were afterwards destroyed, for fear of ex* hausting the cat, by so numerous a family. The man said that the cat was a good mouser ; but ad* initted that he had taught her to abstain from white mice, which he had been in the habit of keeping. '* As the cat had kittens," Mr. Broderip adds. u on which to exercise her maternal tenderness, ana which must have sucked sufficiently to prevent any thing like bodily inconvenience, it is hard to account for this perversion of instinct. Is it that, at such times, the all-powerful and uncontrollable aropyn is exercised indiscriminately Upon every young living creature which is thrown upon the mercy of the hew mother for protection and nourishment, and is capable of enjoying her care ? The cases of the hedge-sparrow or wagtail and the young cuckoo, of young ducks which are hatched by hens, and even substituted for their own broods on their loss or failure, — n&y, the very assiduity with which a hen will sit upon a ball or two of whitening, would all seem to point this way*/* The similar account in White's Selborne, which the preceding is given by Mr. Broderip to illustrate, is too striking to be omitted, " My friend," says White, u had a little helpless leveret brought to him, which the servants fed with milk in a spoon, and about the same time his cat kittened, and the young were despatched and buried-. The hare was soon lpst and supposed to be gone the way of tnost fond- lings, to be killed by some dog or cat. However, in about a fortnight, as the master was sitting in his garden in the dusk of the evening, he observed his cat, with tail erect, trotting towards him, and calling with little short inward notes of complacency, such * Zool. Journ. ii. 21. H0 H A0IV9 OP MOM. * * t as they use towards their kittens,, and aotaathiiig gamboling after, which proved to be the leveret, that the cat had supported wkh her milk, and continued to support with great affection." Sir William Jardine adds, " About two years since at a cotter's house in Annandale, Dumfries-shire, a litter of pigs by some accident lost their mother;, at the same time, a pointer bitch happening to pup, and .the puppies suffering the lot common to most such, their place was supplied by the pigs, which were well and affectionately nursed by their foster parent*/* A similar anecdote has been recorded of a cat suckling puppies f. It is not improbable that some such incidents aa jthese gave rise to the relations of exposed children being suckled by wild beasts, such as the celebrated Roman story of the twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, alleged to have been suckled by a wolf. The care of Mare was dressed with mossy greens ; '' There, by the wolf, was laid the martial twin's : Intrepid on her swelling dugs they hung, The foster dam loll'd out her fawning ton goe ' They suck'd secure, while bending baek her heed She Uek'd their tender limbs J. ' « To return to the accounts of chickens nursed Vy cocks. "I have had repeated opportunities," says Re'aumur, " of convincing myself with my own.ey,es that capons perform the office of a mother very \yell. • White's Selbone, Sir W. Jardtne's teKt p. 231. + See Menageries, i 215. I Dryden's Virgil. The original is : — — Viridi fcetam Mavortis in antro Procubuisse lupam ; geminos huic ttbera circum Ludere pendente* pueros, et lambere matron Impavidos ; illam tereti cervice reflexant Mulcere aU*rn*s*-»uJ?*ei4 viik SHELTtHTWG OP THE YOUNG. 181 $L lady related to -me has a vast number of chickens, "brought up every year with no other nurses than capons ; and I have seen frequently at her Chateau of Vaujour, near Livry, above two hundred chickens thftt had only three or four capons for their leaders ; it being one of the advantages of this method, that a capon may be trusted with two or three times as many chickens as a hen can properly manage* Another advantage is, that a capon may be set to nurse at any given time, as he is always ready to undertake the task, and he even seems to become proud of his family in proportion as the number increases; whereas hens will persecute and drive away the chickens which are offered to them after a certain age, and which are of course different in size -from those they have themselves hatched. Another advantage consists in saving the hens from the trouble of nursing, as in that case they will either continue longer, or begin much sooner to lay ; while the chance will be avoided of any disaster happening to the chickens from being abandoned before they can provide for themselves, by a mother in whom, as often happens, laying is prematurely renewed *." The education of the capon for the maternal office has been considered a matter of great difficulty, 'besides Baptista Porta's method of stinging the capon with nettles, others advise making him tipsy 'with wine or brandy when the chickens are put to him, in order, as they profess, to make him fancy himself a hen, when he sees them crowding round him. Reaumur, upon trying this, found that in a number of instances, the capon, instead of attending to the chickens, trod upon and crushed several of them to death, and gave others a drubbing with * Oiseaux Domestique3,M6au vii. R 182 HABITS OF BIRDS. his beak. Having been convinced that such em- pirical practices ' were useless, he put three capons under the care of the woman who had the charge of the poultry-yard at the Chateau de Vaujour; and as she proceeded on a regular and rational plan of tuition, put in force not for a single night or day, but continued for several days in succession, they came out of her school very well instructed in the space often or twelve days. Her method was, neither to pluck their feathers, to sting them with nettles, nor to make them drunk. She kept them alone for a day or two in pretty deep and rather narrow buckets dark- ened by a covering of boards, taking them out two or three times a day to feed. After making the capon in this manner wearied of solitude, she placed with him for companions two or three chickens somewhat ad- vanced in growth, and gave them all their food in common. If he ill used them, they were removed for a day or more, and then others were put to him. By such means, varied as circumstances indicate, the capon will contract a habit of living amicably with two or three chickens, and the number being increased by degrees, he will at last begin to take pride in his flock, so that it may be enlarged to any extent. Upon receiving his liberty in these circumstances, he will sit upon the chicks as a hen does, whenever they require to be protected from cold, and will lead them to places where they may find food, clucking like a hen to call them together when they straggle. He will likewise redouble his clucking when he finds such dainties as a piece of bread or an earthworm, which he will divide into several small portions to share it amongst them all, and will seem delighted to see them eat heartily of what he deprives himself of for their sake. After the few first days of training a capon, during which he may probably injure or kill two or three chickens. SHELTERING OF THE YOUNG. 133 the task becomes easy ; and when once he is taught he will retain the habit to the end of his life, nor ever become tired of the task ; for even when unemployed for several months during winter, he will take to it again in spring nearly as well as before. Though capons probably make the best nurses, it appears to be equally possible to instruct cocks in the art of nursing. " I thought," says Reaumur, " I had sent to school three capons, but one of them proved to be a cock, though he came home as well instructed as his two companions *. M But in the case of artificial hatching by means of ovens, it must frequently be found impossible to pro- cure a sufficient number of nurses either of hens or capons ; and in that case, in order to rear the chickens successfully, arti6cial methods must be continued. Were all the assiduities indeed of the hen required, it would be next to impossible to find an artificial substitute; but as her chief object is to procure food and secure warmth, these with a little attention may be supplied as well or even better by art than by the most assiduous mother. Re'aumur, in the course of his interesting experiments, tried several plans for the substitution of what he aptly denomi- nates an artificial mother. By bringing the chickens up in a hot-bed, indeed, it will be easy to make them enjoy a perpetual summer, exempt from exposure to rain or cold nights. They may even be advan- tageously reared for the first fortnight or three weeks in the oven where they have been hatched, taking them out about five or six times a day for food and water. This, however, is a more troublesome plan than is necessary. Reaumur's statement of some of the difficulties which he met with is so illustrative of the subject that we shall quote the passage. * Oiseaux Domestiques, 184 HABITS OF BIRDS, " My apparatus," he says, " did not at first seem sufficiently perfect ; for, though the chickens were kept in warm air, they had no equivalent for the gentle pressure of the belly of the mother upon their backs when she sits over them. Their back is, in fact, necessarily more warmed than the other parts of. the body while huddling under their mother's wings; whereas their belly often rests on the cold moist earth, the reverse of what took place in the apparatus, where their feet were the best warmed. The chickens themselves indicated that they were more in want of having their backs warmed than any other part of their body ; for, after all of them had repaired to the warmest end of the apparatus, instead of squatting as they naturally do when they rest, they remained motionless, standing bolt upright upon their legs, with their backs turned towards the sides or end of the apartment in order to procure the necessary warmth. I therefore judged that they wanted an apparatus that might, by resting on them, determine them to 'take the same attitude as they naturally assume under the hens, and I contrived an inanimate mother that might supply, in this respect, the want of a living one*." Artificiil Motlieit. The artificial mother contrived upon these pria- * Oiieaux Domestiquei. SHELTERING OP TUB YOUNG. 185 cjples, cwsj.sts .of a. box lined with sheepskin, with tjie wool on it, the bottom being of a square form, and the upper part sloped like a writing-desk. This box is placed at the end of a crib or cage, shut with a, grating of willow, net, or wire, and closed above with a hinged lid, the whole being so formed that the chickeps can walk round the sides. The slope of the coyer, permits the chickens to arrange themselves according to their sizes ; but as it is their practice, as well as that of all other young birds, to press very closely together, and even to climb upon one another, tie email and the weak being thereby in danger of being. crushed or smothered, Reaumur constructed his artificial mother open at both ends, or, at most, with only a loose netting hanging over it. Through this the weakest chicken can escape when it feels itself t».o much >sqneezed, and then, by going round to the other opening, it may find a less dangerous neighbour- hood. The ingenious author even made improvements upon this contrivance, one of which consisted in keep- ing the cover sloped so low as to prevent the chickens from climbing on each other, and raising it as they increased in growth. Another was, the dividing the Imptored Artificial Mother. 186 HABITS OF BIRDS. large cribs into two by means of a transverse par- tition, so as to separate the chickens of different sizes. " They soon showed me," says Reaumur, " how sensible they were of the advantage of my artificial mother, by their delight in remaining under it and pressing it very close. When they had taken their little meals they jumped and capered about, and when they began to be tired, they repaired to this mother, going so deep into it that they were compelled to squat, so that when the roof was turned up, I per- ceived the impression of the backs of several chickens upon the fur-lining. There is, indeed, no natural mother that can be so good for the chickens as the artificial one, and they are not long in discovering this, ' instinct being a quick and sure director. Chickens, direct from the hatching oven, from twelve to twenty-four hours after their escape from the shell, will begin to pick up and swallow small grains or crumbs of bread; and, after having eaten and walked about a little, they soon find their way to the fleecy lodge, where they can rest and warm themselves, remaining till hunger puts them again in motion. They all betake themselves to the artificial mother at night, and leave it exactly at day-break, or when a lamp is brought into the place, producing an artificial day-break, with which, it is worthy of remark, old hens are not affected but remain immoveable on their roosts*/' A still more elegant and ingenious artificial mother consists of a stove with an apartment round it for the chickens, and a net-work over it, to prevent their escape or their getting too near the stove. This Reaumur found to be an excellent plan for keeping * Oimux Domc»tiquos, f Nouv. Vey. ayx lies de l'Amerique. viil 206, \ pi*t. Aai^l, i*. 10. § D* Nat. Deor, ii. 124; s3 198 HABITS OF BIRDS. and so long will they peek and bite them by the heads, until they let go their hold of the fish they have gotten, and so they wring it perforce from them. This bird, when his belly is full of shell-fishes, that he hath greedily devoured, and hath by the natural heat of his craw and gorge in some sort concocted them, casteth all up again ; and at leisure picketh out the meat and eateth it again, leaving the shells behind*." As iElian and Appianf give a similar account of herons, gulls, and other water-fowl, it is probable the observation has been hastily applied to the pelican, whose craw or bag does not seem • to possess any digestive power. Even the stork, which has beeu compared in this respect with ruminating animals, does not appear to possess much, if any, power of digestion in the craw, as has been shown by Pever J and Schelhammer §. The quantities of food brought for their young by the parents of birds which feed upon fish, has at- tracted the attention of every naturalist who has ob- served their nests. " So much fish," says Audubon, " is at times carried to the nest of the fish-hawk (Pandion Halicetus, Savigny), that a quantity of it falls to the ground, and is left there to putrefy around the foot of the tree || ;" and of the white-headed eagle, he says, the young " are fed most abundantly while under the care of the parents, which procure for them ample supplies of fish, either accidentally cast ashore, or taken from the fish-hawk, together with rabbits, squirrels, young lambs, pigs, opossums, or racoons ^[." The various species of eagles are all recorded to be equally assiduous in supplying extraordinary quan- * Holland, x. 40. t In Aucupio, Phys. Car. p. 1220. I Epbera. Nat. Cur. ii. 2, 97. $ Collect. Acad. Etrang. ir, 109. || Omith. Biogr. p. 419. * Ibid. p. 162. FEBDTW* Of THfi YOttNG. 199 tities of food for their youngs frequently carrying off for that purpose animals of considerable size, and even children. The latter circumstance appears to be well authenticated by a variety of independent testimony. Amongst other instances, Sir Robert Sibbald gives the following, which Occurred in the Orkneys. d " An eagle seized a child a year old, which its mother had left, wrapped- up in some clothes, at a place called Houton-Head, while she went for a few moments to gather sticks for firewood, and carried it a distance of four miles to Hoia ; which circumstance being known from the cries of the mother, four men went there in a boat; and, knowing where the nest was, found the child unhurt and untouched*." This story, which all the compilers attribute to Ray, though he does not even allude to it, seems to have furnished the groundwork of the intensely- affecting tale of • Hannah Lamond's Bairn t.' ; Anderson, also, in his ' History of Iceland,' says, that there have been instances of children, four or five years of age, being carried off by eagles. ' It is highly probable, we think, that some incident of this kind gave origin to the classic fable of Gany- mede, said by Homer and Ovid J to have been carried off by Jupiter, under the form of an eagle, to replace Hebe as cup-bearer to the Olympian gods. That the story was founded upon some real occurrence, may be inferred from the spot being referred to by Strabo§, and from Herodian's allusion to it, though he says " Ganymede was torn in pieces by his brother, and disappeared, which gave occasion to the report of Jupiter's carrying him into heaven H;" while Lac* * Prodromus, Nat. Hist. Scotise, yoI. iii. part 2, p. 14. f Blackwood's Magazine. ' I Metam. x. § Apod Aldrovand. Ornith. i. 42. || Hist Vit. Commod. i. 200: H4BJT8 OF BIRDS. tantius, refining upon this notion* thinks the, youJh was either captured by a legion, whose insignia was an eagle, or carried off in a ship having an eagle carved on the prow*. Cicero justly condemns the morality of the legend, which, however, he gives very inaccurately t from memory, Gesner, on the authority of Fabricius ab Aqua* pendente* says, that some peasants between Meissen and Brisa, in Germany, losing every day some of their cattle, which they sought for in the forests in vain, observed by chance a very large nest, in which were found several skins of calves and sheep. This nest, which is described as being as large as the body of a cart, rested on three oaks. It is very doubtful, however, whether any species of eagle, with all its power of talon and of wing, could carry off an animal so large as a calf, which must be more weighty than itself. Hares, rabbits, and lambs, may indeed be easily, managed ; and when larger animals are encountered they may be carried off piecemeal, as is probably done with deer, which, Pennant says, are frequently in Scotland attacked by the erne (HcUicBtm attticitta, Saviqnv). It seizes the deer between the horns, and incessantly beating it about the eyes with its wings, soon makes prey of the harassed animal |. Owls, it would appear, are equally provident of prey for their young, Bingley tells us that, on examining a nest of the hawk-owl (Qtu$ brachyotv*, Fleming), " that had in it two young ones, several pieces of rabbits, leverets, and other small animals were found. The hen and one of the young ones were taken away; the other .was left to entice the, cock, which was absent when ,the nest was dis- covered; On the following morning there were • Pe FaJsa Religione, i. f Tusc. Qwest, i. % grit. ZopI, vol, i. No. 43. FEEDING OF THE YOUNG. 201 found in the nest three young rabbits that had been brought to this young one by the cock during the night*." M. Cronstedt, the mineralogist, " resided several years at a farm in Sudermania, near a steep moun- tain, on the summit of which two eagle-owls had their nest. One day in the month of July, a young owl, having quitted the nest, was seized by some of his servants. This bird, after it was caught, was shut up in a large hen-coop ; and the next morning M. Cronstedt found a young partridge lying dead before the door of the coop. He immediately con- cluded that this provision had been brought thither by the parent birds j which, he supposed, had been making search in the night-time for their lost young one, and had been led to the place of its confine- ment by its cry. This proved to have been the case by the same mark of attention being repeated for fourteen successive nights. The game which the old ones carried to it consisted principally of young partridges, for the most part newly-killed, but some- times a little spoiled. One day a moor-fowl was brought, so fresh that it was still warm under the wings. A putrid lamb was found at another time. M. - Cronstedt and his servant watched at a window several nights, that they might observe, if possible, when this supply was deposited. Their plan did not succeed ; but it appeared that the owls, which are very sharp-sighted, had discovered the moment when the window was not watched, as food was found to have- been deposited before the coop one night when this had been the case. In the month of August the parents discontinued this attention ; but at that period all birds of prey abandon their offspring to their own exertions. From this instance some idea may be formed of the great quantity of game that * ADim/ Biogr. ii. 216, sixth edit. 39$ HABITS OP BIRPP. must he destroyed by a pair of these owls during the time they are employed rearing their young*." So anxious are the parent birds to provide food fyr their young, that several of them exhibit, during the breeding season, more omnivorous propensities than at any other. We may indeed occasionally see a chaffinch (Fringilla spiza), or a green-bird (F. Moris) 9 catch a fly or a beetle, but never we believe except when seeds are scarce. On the contrary, in feeding their young, insects constitute probably their sole provision, the seeds upon which the old birds live being too indigestible at least for the unfledged young. In the same way some of the larger birds, which are at all times omnivorous, such as the mag« pie (Pica caudata, Ray), exhibit more carnivorous propensities than usual. Speaking of the magpie, Mr. Knapp says, " When a hatch is effected, the number of young demand a larger quantity of food than is easily obtained, and whole broods of our ducklings, whenever they stray from the yard, are conveyed to the nestf." The same delightful writer gives an account of the rearing of a brood of torn-tits, which shows that smaller birds are no less provident with regard to the quantity of food furnished to their young than the eagle or the magpie. " I was lately/' says he, " exceedingly pleased in witnessing the maternal care and intelligence of this bird ; for the poor thing had its young ones in the hole of a wall, and the nest had been nearly all drawn out of the crevice by the paw of a cat, and part of its brood devoured. In revisiting its family, the bird discovered a portion of it remaining, though wrapped up and hidden in the tangled moss and feathers of their bed, and it then drew the whole of the nest back into the place from ♦ Cronitedt, quoted by Bingley, ii. 212, 6th edit, t Joujwsl q{ a prturVipt, p, 183, third edition. FEEDING OF THE YOfJNG. 208 whence it had been taken, unrolled and resettled the remaining' little ones, fed them with the usual atten- tions, and finally succeeded in rearing them. The parents of even this reduced family laboured with great perseverance to supply its wants, one or the other of them bringing a grub, caterpillar, or some insect, at intervals of less than a minute, through the day, and probably in the earlier part of the morning more frequently ; but if we allow that they brought food on the whole every minute for fourteen hours, and provided for their own wants also, it wiTI admit of perhaps a thousand grubs a day for the requirements of one, and that a diminished, brood ; and give ws some comprehension of the infinite number requisite for the summer nutriment of our soft-billed birds, and the great distances gone over by such as have young ones, in their numerous trips from hedge to tree in the hours specified, when they have full broods to support. A climate of moisture and temperature like ours is peculiarly favourable for the production of insect food, which would in some seasons be par- ticularly injurious, were we not visited by such num- bers of active little friends to consume it *." From similar observations, Mr. Bradley, in his * Treatise on Husbandry,' calculated that a pair of Sparrows, during the time they have their young to feed, destroy every week about 3360 caterpillars. The basis of this calculation was, that he had ob- served the two sparrows carry to their young 40 caterpillars within an hour, and thence making a supposition that they are employed in this manner during twelve hours in the day, he finds the daily consumption to be 480 caterpillars, which, multiplied by 7, the days in a week, gives 3360. We should be disposed, however, to consider this perhaps double the real number, for, in a case so uncertain, the result * (barn, of a Natmltst, p. 171, 3d edit. 204 HABITS OF BIRDS. of one hour cannot be accurately predicated of twelve successive hours, inasmuch as the sparrows could not be certain of meeting with the requisite supprj of caterpillars in their immediate vicinity, and if they did one day, they would probably have afterwards to forage at some distance. A more recent observer has with due caution con- sidered such calculations too vague, though they are literally copied not only by all the compilers, but by Bonnet and Smellie. " I have observed," says Mr. Knapp, " a pair of starlings for several days in con- stant progress before me, having young ones in the hole of a neighbouring poplar tree, and they have been probably this way in action from the opening of the morning — thus persisting* in this labour of lore for twelve or thirteen hours in the day ! The space they pass over in their various transits and returns must be very great, and the calculation vague ; yet from some rude observations, it appears probable that this pair in conjunction do not travel less than fifty miles in the day, visiting and feeding their young about a hundred and forty times, which consisting of five in number, and admitting only one to be fed each time, every bird must receive in this period eight and twenty portions of food or water ! This excessive labour seems entailed upon most of 'the land birds, except the gallinaceous tribes, and some of, the marine birds, which toil with infinite perse- verance in fishing for their broods ; but the very pre- carious supply of food to be obtained in dry seasons by the terrestrial birds, renders theirs a labour of more unremitting hardship, than that experienced bf the piscivorous tribes, the food of which is probably tittle influenced by season, while our poor land birds find theirs to be nearly annihilated in some cases *.** There cannot be any question of the immense num- * Joutd. of a Naturalbt/f). 198, 3d edit. FEEDING OF THE YOUNG. 205 bers of insects required during the breeding season. An instance of this is mentioned by Bingley, with regard to some small American bird, which he calls a creeper (Certkid), but which we suspect to be more probably the house- wren (AnorthuraJEdori). u From observing," he says, " its utility in destroying insects, it has long been a custom, with the inhabitants of many parts of the United States, to fix a small box at the end of a pole, in gardens and about houses, as a place for it to build in. In these boxes the ani- mals form their nests and hatch their young ones ; which the parent birds feed with a variety of different insects, particularly those speeies that are injurious in gardens. A gentleman, who was at the trouble of watching these birds, observed that the parents generally went from the nest and returned with in- sects from forty to sixty times in an hour, and that in one particular hour, they carried food no fewer than seventy-one times. In this business they were en- gaged during the greatest part of the day. Allowing twelve hours to be thus occupied, a single pair of these birds would destroy at least 600 insects in the course of one day ; on the supposition that the two birds took only a single insect each time. But it is Wghly probable that they often took more*." Looking at the matter in this point of view, the destruction of insectivorous birds has in some cases been considered as productive of serious mischief. One striking instance we distinctly recollect, though we cannot at this moment turn to the book in which it is recorded f. The numbers of the crows or rooks of North America were, in consequence of state re- wards for their destruction, so much diminished, and the increase of insects so great, as to induce the state to announce a counter reward for the protec- ' * Anim. Biogr. ii. 282, 6th edit, f Belknap, Hist, of New Hampshire. T 206 HABITS 6t BIRDS. tion of the crows. Such rewards are common in America, and from a document given by Wilsoil, respecting a proposal made in Delaware " for banish- ing or destroying the crows,'* it appears that the money thus expended sometimes amounts to no iri- considerable sum. The document concludes by say- ing, ** The sum of five hundred dollars being thus required, the committee beg leave to address the far- mers and others of Newcastle county and elsewhefe on the subject *.* From its sometimes eating gram arid other seed's, *' the rook," says Selby, " has erroneously been viewed in the light of an enemy by most husbandmen ; and in several districts, attempts have been made either to banish it, or to extirpate the breed. But whenever this measure has been carried into effect, the most serious injury to the corn and other crops has inva- riably followed, from the unchecked devastations of the grub and caterpillar. As experience is the sure test of utility, a change of conduct has in consequence been partially adopted ; and some farmers now find the encouragement of the breed of rooks to be greatly to their interest, in freeing their lands from the grub of the cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris), an insedt very abundant in many of the southern counties. In Northumberland I have witnessed its usefulness in feeding on the larvae of the insect commonly known by the name of Harry Longlegs (Tipula oleraced), which is particularly destructive to the roots of grain and young clovers -f ." It has on similar grounds been contended, that the great number of birds caught by bird-catchers, particularly in the vicinity of London, has been pro- ductive of much injury to gardens and orchards. So Serious has this evil appeared to some, that if has * Am. Ornith. iv. 84, note, f Illustrations, p. 73, FEBPIH9 Of TJttE F0PN6. %B7 prop been proposed to have an act of parliament pro* Jaibiliog bird-catchers from exercising their art within twenty miles of the metropolis ; and also prohibiting wild birds of any kind from being shot or otherwise caught or destroyed within this distance, under certain penalties. It is very clear, however, that such an act could never be carried ; and though it might be advantageous to gardens, orchards, and farms, jet the attacks which the same birds make on fruit would probably be an equivalent counterbalance. In the case of swallows, on the other hand, it has been well remarked by an excellent naturalist, that jthey are to us quite inoffensive, while "the beneficial services they perform for us, by clearing the air of innumerable insects, ought to render them sacred and secure them from our molestation. Without their friendly aid the atmosphere we live in would scarcely be habitable by man : they feed entirely on insects, which, if not kept under by their means, would swarm and torment us like another Egyptian plague. The immense quantity of flies destroyed in a short space of time by one individual bird is scarcely to be credited by those who have not had actual experience q£ the fact.'' He goes on to illustrate this from a £«rift (Cyptdiu viitrarius, Temningk), which was /shot. " It was in the breeding season when the young were hatched ; at which time the parent birds, it is well known, are in the habit of making little excursions into the country to a considerable distance from their breeding places, for the purpose of collect- ing flies which they bring home to their infant progeny. On picking up my hapless and ill-gotten prey, I observed a number of flies, some mutilated, others scarcely injured, crawling out of the bird's mouth; the throat and pouch seemed absolutely stuffed with them, and an incredible number was at length disgorged. I am sure I speak within compass 208 HABITS OF BIRDS. when I state that there was a mass of -flies, just caught by this single swift, larger than when pressed close, could conveniently be contained in the bowl of an ordinary tablespoon *." The extraordinary affection exhibited by the parent birds for their young is strikingly exemplified in the instances recorded of their risking their own freedom and safety by venturing into houses whither their nestlings have been carried. We once witnessed an instance of this in a pair of goldfinches, who were, however, enticed by hanging the cage containing the nestlings upon their native tree in an orchard, from which it was gradually removed to the outside of a window, and afterwards taken indoors, whither the parent goldfinches followed and assiduously supplied their young with food. No attempt was made to catch the old ones ; yet with all their anxiety to sup- ply the young with food, they took care, although the window was left open for them, never to remain in the room during the night, roosting always in au adjacent tree in the orchard f. An interesting story of a similar kind is told by Colonel Montagu respecting the gold-crested wren (Regulus cristatus, Ray). "A pair," says he, "of these birds, who took pos- session of a fir-tree in my garden, ceased their notes as soon as the young were hatched; and as this beautiful little family caused me much delight and amusement, some observations thereon may not be unacceptable to the curious reader. When first I discovered the nest, I thought it a favourable oppor- tunity to become acquainted with some of the manners of this minute species, and to endeavour to discover whether the male ever sung by way of instructing the young ones. Accordingly I took the nest, when the young were about six days old, placed it in a small * Rev. W. T. Bree, Mag. Nat. Hist. iii. 37. f J. R. FERJHB* Of TUB TOVNG. ^9 husket, and by degrees enticed the old ones to my study window; and after they became familiar will* thai situation, the basket was placed within the window ; then at the opposite side of the room. It ut remarkable that although the female seemed regard* less of danger, from her affection to her young, the mah Beyer once ventured within the room ; and yet would constantly feed them while they remained at the outside of the window: on the contrary, the female would feed them at the table at which I sat, and even when I held the nest in my hand, provided I remained motionless* But on moving my head one day, while she waft on the edge of the nest, which I held in my hand, she made a precipitate retreat, mistook the open part of the window, knocked herself against the glass, and laid [lay] breathless on the floor for some time. It is probable the focal dis- tance of such minute animals' eyes is very near, and that large abject* aire not represented perfect on the retinm ; that they do not seem to see such distinctly is certain, unless in motion. However, recovering a litttej she made her escape, and in about an hour after I was agreeably surprised by her return ; and •he Would afterwards frequently feed the young while I held the nest in my hand. The male bird constantly attended the female in her flight to and Jro, but never ventured beyond the window-frame ; '»or did he latterly ever appear with food in his bill. He never uttered any note but when the female was out of sight, and then only a small chirp. At first there wore ten young in the nest, but probably for want of the male's assistance. in procuring food, two died* The visits of the female were generally repeated in the spaee of a minute and a half or two minutes, or upon an average thirty-six times in an hour ; and this continued full sixteen hours in a day, which, if equally divided between the eight young ones, each t3 $10 HABITS OF BIRDS. would receive seventy-two feeds in the day; the whole amounting to five hundred and seventy-six. From examination of the food, which by accident now and then dropped into the nest, I judged from those weighed that each feed was a quarter of a grain upon an average ; so that each young one was sup- plied with eighteen grains weight in a day ; and as the young ones weighed about seventy-seven grains at the time they began to perch, they consumed nearly their weight of fodd in four days' time at that time. This extraordinary consumption seems absolutely re* quisite in animals of such rapid growth. The old birds of this species weigh from eighty to ninety grains. I could always perceive by the animation of the young brood when the old one was coming ; probably some low note indicated her approach, and in an instant every mouth was open to receive the insect morsel. But there appeared no regularity in the supply given by the parent bird: sometimes the same was fed two or three times successively ; and I generally observed that the strongest got most, being able to reach far* thest, the old one delivering it to the mouth nearest to her* » It would be easy for us to extend this chapter to a much greater length by similar anecdotes ; but we shall only add one more respecting one of the hummingbirds (Trochilidai), mentioned by M. Labat, premising that we have no means of ascertaining the particular species meant. It being found extremely difficult, if not impossible, to breed the young hum- ming birds, endeavours have been made to rear them by taking advantage of the natural affection of the parents for their offspring. Our author records an instance of such an experiment: "I showed," says he, " a nest of humming-birds to Father Montdidier, which was placed on a shed near the house. He * Ornith, Diet. Introd. 1st ed. and p. 204, 2nd ed. FEKOTNG OF THE YOUNG. 211 carried it off with the young, when they were about fifteen or twenty days old, and put them in a cage at his room window, where the cock and hen con- tinued to feed them, and grew so tame, that they scarcely ever left the room ; and though not shut in the cage, nor subjected to any restraint, they used to eat and sleep. with their brood. I have often seen ail the four sitting upon Father Montdidier's finger, singing as if they had been perched upon a branch. He fed them with a very fine and almost limpid paste, made with biscuit, Spanish wine, and sugar. They dipped their tongue in it, and when their appetite was satisfied they fluttered and chanted. I never saw any thing more lovely than these four pretty little birds, which flew about the house, and attended the call of their foster-father. He pre- served them in this way five or six months, and we hoped soon to see them breed, when Father Mont- didier, having forgotten one night to tie the cage in which they were roosted by a cord, that hung from the ceiling, to keep them from the rats, had the vex- ation in the morning to find that they had disap- peared; they had been devoured*." * Nouveau Voyage aux lies de 1'Amerique, iv. 14. ?1* HABIT! OF BIRDS. Chapter XII. TRAINING OV YOUNG BIROS BY THEIR PARENTS* By finr the greater number of the actions of animals appear to be performed without previous instruction, in a manner which being inexplicable in the present state of knowledge, is designated by the terms instinct and instinctive, meaning that the motives to any particular movement or action, as well as the mode of execution, originate in the animal spontaneously, without the series of reasoning, or thinking and determining, which we employ in similar cases. Thus a frog is said to swim instinctively in water; that is, it requires no training, no instruction in th* art of swimming, no more than we do in the process of breathing ; and the same may be said with regard to the swimming of most other animals, even those least accustomed to water, few being unable to swim except man, who requires training and instruction for that purpose. It is not our design to enter here upon the difficult subject of instinct, farther than to point out a few of the acquired actions of birds, originating either in the express instruction or imi- tation of their parents. With respect to the eagle, which is the most cele- brated from the remotest antiquity for instructing its young, we are told by Moses, that she " stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, and taketh them and beareth them on her wings*." Aristotle adds, that the young are not permitted to leave the nest prematurely, and + Deuteronomy, xxxii, 11. TRAINING OF YOUNG BIRDS, 21S if they make the attempt, their parents beat them with their wings and tear them with their claws*. Be this as it may, we are assured that eagles will feed their young for a considerable period, if the latter are disabled from flying by clipping their wings ; and it is recorded that a countryman once obtained a com- fortable subsistence for his family out of an eagle's nest, by clipping the wings of the eaglets and tying them so as to increase their cries, a plan which was found to stimulate the exertions of the old birds in bringing prey to the nest. It was of course neces- sary for him to make his visits when the old birds were absent, otherwise he might have been made to pay dearly for his plunder. After instructing their young in flying and hunting, the parent eagles, like other birds of prey, drive them from their territory, though not, we believe, as Aristotle says, from the nest. Bonnet says, "The eagle instructs its young in flying, but does not, like the stork, prolong their education, for it mercilessly drives them away before they are thoroughly taught and forces them to pro- vide for their own wants. All the tyrants of the air act in the same manner, yet though this seems cruel and shocking, when we consider their close relation- ship, it takes a different aspect when we consider the kind of life led by those voracious birds. Destined to subsist by rapine and carnage, they would soon produce a famine amongst their race did many . of them dwell in the same district. For which reason, they hasten to drive away their young at a certain age from their boundaries, and then if a scarcity of provision occur, the male and female put one another to death t." The poet Thomson, without going quite so far as this, gives a very good account of the circumstance. * Hist. Anim. ix. 32. ' m \ Contempl. de la Nature, yi. note 5. 2i* 04BfT* Of 9iftf>& ft £ligfe f aott lh# subjbw* »f a craggy cliff Huog V^r {fee deep, sucn as amazing frowns by old writers J but Willughby> from his own observation, asserts that the sound is "nothing like to lowing/* &c, but " to say the truth, seems much more to imitate the braying of an ass than the bellowing of a bull** Goldsmith's description, also, from his own obser- Yation, seems more minute, though it may possibly * OrniOhbyRfty, p.2tt. r 340 HAMT8 OT BIRDS. be somewhat tinged -with poetry. "Those, 5 * says he, " who have walked in an evening by the sedgy sides of unfrequented rivers, must remember a variety of notes from- different water-fowl ; the loud scream of the wild goose, the croaking of the mallard, the whining of the lap- wing, and the tremulous neighing of the jack-snipe* But of all those sounds there is none so dismally hollow as the booming of the bit- tern. It is impossible for words to give those who have not heard this evening call, an adequate idea of its solemnity. It is like the interrupted bellowing of a bull, but hollower and louder, and is heard at a mile's distance, as if issuing from some formidable- being that resided at the bottom of the waters*." Southey represents this sound as being heard at w distance : « At evening o'er the swampy plain The bittern's boom came fart.*' The earliest explanation we have met with of the manner in which this sound is produced, is by Aris- totle, who introduces it amongst his Problems*' ** Why," 6ays he, " do those, which are called Bo- mugi, and which are fabulously reported to be bulls,' consecrated to some deity, usually dwell among marshes, which are situate near rivers? Is the sound really so like the bellowing of a bull, that, if it is heard by oxen, they are as much affected by* it, as if they felt sensible some bull was bellowing ? Is not such a sound produced when rivers inundate marshes, or marshes overflow their boundaries, and are either roughly checked in their impetuous course by the sea, and thence send forth a rushing sound ?. Similar sounds are produced in caverns under ground, into which currents of water rush and dispel the air through small apertures; and- also when a man * Animated Nature, iii. 263. f Thalaba, VOCAL ORGANS. 241 applies his mouth to an empty barrel, and makes a murmuring noise therein, it will resemble the lowing of an ox. Various forms of things which are hol- low produce sounds of astonishing variety. If any one, for instance, remove the lid of a cask and draw the bottom: of it upwards and downwards, shouting in it at the same time, a sound will, by such a con- trivance, be produced, that would frighten wild* animals in a similar manner, to that which is prac- tised by orchard keepers*." Old Belon does not seem to be aware of this pas-* sage when he says, " It is not a little marvellous that Aristotle, who has written the history of animals with so much care, should have left it to us to record, that when the bittern comes to the bank of a pond or marsh,, putting its bill under the water, it produces so loud a sound that a bull could not bellow so loud ; for it so manages the utterance of this sound that it can be heard at the distance of half a league f." Gesner, from his own observation, says it may be heard at the distance of half a German mile { ; or, as another author gives it, a good hours walk§. The remarks of Buffon on the loudness of the voices of birds are more correct than is usual with him when he launches into speculation. " In birds," he says, " the formation of the thorax, of the lungs, and of all the organs connected with these, seems expressly calculated to give force and duration to their utterance, and the effect must be proportionally * Aristotle, Problem, ii. 35. t Oyseaux, p. 193, fol. Paris, 1555. The original is, "C'est bien & s'esmerueiller qu'Aristote, qui a escrit l'histoire des animaux saigneusement, a laisse* ce que dirons clu Butor, c'est que quand il se trouve d la rive de quelque eslang au marais, mettant son bee en Peau, il fait un si gros son, qu'il n'y a beuf qui peust crier si haul." t De Avibus, iii. Ardea Stellaris. f . Phytice Curioses, p. 7160. 24S HABITS OV BIRDS. greater. There is another circumstance which evince* that birds have a prodigious power of voice ; the cries of many species are uttered in the higher regions of the atmosphere, where the rarity of the medium must consequently weaken the etfect. That the rare- faction of the air diminishes sounds is well ascertained from pneumatical experiments ; and I can add from my own observation, that* even in the open air, a sensible difference in this respect may be perceived. I have often spent whole days in the forests, where t was obliged to listen closely to the cries of the dogs or shouts of the hunters ; I uniformly found that' the same noises were much less audible during the heat of the day, between ten and four o clock, than' in the evening, and particularly in the night, whose stillness would make hardly any alteration, since in these sequestered scenes there is nothing to disturb the harmony but the slight bu£2 of insects, and the chirping of some birds. I have observed a similar difference between the frosty days in winter and the heats of summer. This can be imputed only to the variation in the density of the air. Indeed, the dif- ference seems to be so great, that I have often been unable to distinguish, in mid-day, at the distance of sis hundred paces, the same voice which I could, at six o'clock in the morning or evening, hear at that of twelve or fifteen hundred paces. A bird may rise at least to* the height of seventeen thousand feet, for it is there* just visible. A flock of several hundred storks, geese, or ducks, must mount still higher, since, not- withstanding the space which they occupy, they soar almost out of sight. If the cry of birds, therefore, may be heard from an altitude of above a league, we may reckon it at least four times as powerful as that' of men or quadrupeds, which is not audible at more than half a league's distance on the surface. But this estimation is even too low$ for, betides the die- YOCAL ORGANS. 94$ aipation of force to be attributed to the cause already assigned, the sound is propagated in the higher regions as from a centre in all directions, and only a part of it reaches the ground ; but, when made at the surface, the aerial waves are reflected as they roll along, and the lateral and vertical effect is aug- mented. It is hence that a person on the top of a tower hears one better at the bottom than the person .below hears from above*.'* With respect to the bittern, an opinion is popularly held, that this bird *' thrusts its bill into a reed that serves it as a pipe for swelling the note above its natural pitch ;" the supposition of some being* " from the loudness and solemnity of the note, that the bird made use of external instruments to produce it, and that so small a body could never eject such a quantity of tone; while others, and in this number we find Thomson, the poet, imagine that the bird puts its bead under water, and then, violently blowing, pro- duces its boomings f." Thomson says—- tt So that scarce The bittern knows his time, with bill iugulphM, To shake the sounding marsh J." Had Thomson, however, been acquainted with the Ornithology of Aldrovand, he might there have found a correct account of the vocal organs by which the bird produces the sound, and which we, .shall now trans* late. " It has not," he says, " like the wild swan and many others, a double larynx, namely, one at the base of the tongue, and another where the windpipe begins to divaricate. In the bittern the windpipe is continuous, having no larynx nor anything analogous to one But Nature appears to have wished to com- pensate for this deficiency, by constructing two canals * Wood's Buffon.xi. 12. f Goldsmith, Aftim. Nat. lit. 263. J SeasonSj—Sprinf. 244 HABITS OP BIRDS. from the windpipe, one going to the right and another to the left lung. The cartilaginous rings of the windpipe, moreover, do not go entirely, but only half round the tube, the circle being completed by a thin, loose, and elastic membrane, which is capable of being greatly inflated. Two sacks being thus formed, when they are inflated, the imprisoned air escapes with violence in bellowing*." So far the account is perspicuous and accurate; but he adds, " When the inspired air inflates the sacks, the bird, thrusting its bill under water, and opening it, allows the air to rush out with such impetus as to rival the bellowing of a bullf." We must consider this state- ment as purely conjectural ; and, as Buffon well remarks, it would not be easy either to verify or disprove the fact from observation J, since the bird lurks always so close as to escape the sight, and the fowlers cannot reach the spots where it lurks without wading through the reeds into deep water. Gold- smith, who seems to have been familiar with the sound, says, " It is often heard where there are neither reeds nor waters to assist its sonorous invita- tions." He adds, " It cannot be, therefore, from its voracious appetites, but its hollow boom, that the bittern is held in such detestation by the vulgar. I remember, in the place where I was a boy, with what terror this bird's note affected the whole village ; they considered it as the presage of some sad event, and generally found or made one to succeed it I do not speak ludicrously ; but if any person in the neigh- bourhood died, they supposed it could not be other- wise, for the night raven had foretold it; but if nobody happened to die, the death of a cow or a sheep gave completion to the prophecy §.* ** The bellowing noise/' says Dr. Latham, ** is supposed to arise from a loose membrane which can * Oraithologia, iii. 166. t Ibid. X Oiaeaux, Art. Le Butor. § Anim. Nat. iii, 264. VQQAI* ORGANS. 245 fce filled with air and exploded at pleasure; and the situation of it is at the divarication of the windpipe; it is capable of great distension, and is probably the Gause of this singular phenomenon, observed, we believe, in no other bird, at least in the same degree. We have had no opportunity ourselves of witnessing ^his, but are informed by Dr. Lamb, that, on dissect" ing a female, he observed that after the windpipe (trachea) had passed into the chest (thoras) to the lower part of the breast-bone (sternum), it was re- flected to the superior portion of the latter, and then, on, a second reflection, divided and passed into the lungs." He adds, " I have been assured, that by filling the windpipe with air after death and exploding jit again suddenly, a similar noise will be produced*.*' Singularly formed Windpipe of the Bator. The cry of the bittern has been sometimes con- founded with that of the snipe, though there is little if any resemblance between the twot. It is, on the con- trary, so like the bleating of a goat, that Klein and Rzaczynski have named it the celestial goat (Capella * General Hist, of Birds, ix. 98. See also Ward, Nat. Hist, of Birds, iii. 150. t J. Re d Die, Mag. Nat. Hist. i. 495. y3 346 HABITS OF BIRDS. calatu) ; and, in the North, it is well known under the name of Heather-bleat. The snipe, however, like most other birds, can vary its calls. " One note," it has been said, " may be compared to the words ' tin- ker, tinker,' uttered in a sharp shrill tone, as the bird ascends in his flight ; the other, uttered as he descends, is somewhat similar to the bleating of a lamb, only in a deeper tone, and accompanied with a violent vibration of the wings *." It is probable, as M. Temminck plausibly con- jectures, that some unexamined peculiarity of con- struction in the vocal organs of the Indian -crowned pigeon (Lopkyru* crtitatus, Yieillot) enables it to produce the loud cooing, or rather bellowing, which so much alarmed M. Bougainville's sailors when they landed on a wild and unfrequented spot in some of the New Guinea islands, that they supposed it to proceed from the cries of hostile and concealed na- tivest- Temminck compares the sound to the gob- bling ventriloquism of the turkey. *-* 247 Chapter XIV t LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. By the term I an gv age, in reference to birds, we mean sounds which can be mutually understood, excluding the words and phrases which parrots and starlings may be taught by imitation, but to which the birds that repeat them can attach no meaning. An exam- ple will best illustrate this, and we do not recollect one more apposite than a circumstance mentioned by Wilson when speaking of the richel bird (Sterna mi- jmta). "I lately," he says, •* visited those parts of the beach on Cape May, where this little bird breeds* During my whole stay, these birds flew in crowds around me, and often within a few yards of my head, squeaking like so many young pigs, which noise their voice strikingly resembles. A humming-bird, that had accidentally strayed to the place, appeared sud- denly among this outrageous troop, several of whom darted angrily at him ; but he shot like an arrow from them, directing his flight straight towards the ocean* I have no doubt but the distressing cries of the terus had drawn this little creature to the scene, having frequently witnessed his anxious curiosity on similar occasions in the woods*." The humming-bird in- deed is not alone in the exhibition of curiosity to see what is going forward when other birds are vociferous. We recollect having our attention once drawn to the loud scolding of a pair of chaffinches in a copse, a circumstance of very frequent occurrence during summer, but rendered peculiar in the instance in * Wilion, Am, OrnUh. vi'w 85. 248 HABITS OF BIRDS. question, by the birds darting down almost to the roots of the bushes at some distance from where we stood, from which we concluded their scolding was not directed to us. The loud pink, pink, of the chaffinches soon attracted to the spot a crowd of their woodland neighbours, among whom a red-breast took the lead, followed by a green-bird, a song- thrush, and about a dozen of the small summer birds (Sylviada), all brought together by curiosity to learn what the chaffinches were scolding about. From all of these curiosity- hunters giving vent to the same expression of feeling, we concluded that some con** mon enemy had made his appearance among them ; and upon looking narrowly into the bushes we per* ceived a piue martin (Martet abietum, Ray) stealing along, occasionally throwing a sly* or rather con* temptuous look at his vociferous railers, but other* wise continuing a careful prying search into every hole and bush for a nest of eggs or younjr, of which lie might make a breakfast *. It appeara, however, to be a shrewd and correct observation of Mr, Knapp* that the voice of one spe«- oies of birds, except in particular cases, is not at? tended to by another species ; and he instances the peculiar call of the female cuckoo which assembles so many contending rivals, but excites no attention generally, inasmuch as the dialect seems to be un- known to all but its own species. He adds, " I know but one note which animals make use of, that seems of universal comprehension, and this is the signal of danger ; the instant it is uttered, we hear the whole flock, though composed of various species, repeat a separate moan, and away they all scuttle into the bushes for safetv t«" The latter circamstance, however, is contrary to all * J. R. t Jours* of t Naturalist, p. 26Q, third edit. LANGUAGE. 249 that we have ever observed ; for instead of flying or hiding from danger, the alarm-call seems to em- bolden even the most timid to run every hazard; and accordingly, it is matter of common observation that whenever a hawk makes his appearance, the first swallow which descries him, sounds the tocsin, when not only all the swallows in the vicinity muster their forces, but many other small birds hurry to the spot, and so far from sculking away out of danger, they boldly face their powerful foe, attacking him fear- lessly with beak and wing, till some individual pays the penalty of his temerity. With this exception we can bear testimony to the description of Mr. Knapp being minutely correct. '* Some," he adds, " give the maternal hush to their young, and mount to in* quire into the jeopardy announced. The wren, that tells of perils from the hedge, soon collects about her all the various inquisitive species within hearing to survey and ascertain the object and add their sepa- rate fears. Ttie swallow, that shrieking darts in de- vious flight through the air when a hawk appears, not only calls up all the hirundines of the village, but is Instantly understood by every finch and sparrow, and its warning attended to *." Dr. Darwin, in his usual ingenious but fanciful -manner, endeavours to show that this language of fear and alarm is (like other sounds usually con- sidered natural) acquired and conventional like human speech. His facts will amuse the reader, while his in- ferences must appear quite hypothetical and strained. " All other animals," he says, " as well as man, are -possessed of the natural language of the passions, expressed in signs or tones; and we shall endeavour to evince, that those animals which have preserved themselves from being enslaved by mankind, and are associated in flocks, are also possessed of some * Journ. of a Naturalist, p. 268, third edit. t&* HABITS QF BIRDS. artificial lauguage and of tome traditional know* ledge. " The mother-turkey, when she eyes a kite hover* ing high in air, has either seen her own parents thrown into fear at his presence, or has by observation been acquainted with his dangerous designs upon her young. She becomes agitated with fear, and uses the natural language of that passion; her youug ones catch the fear by imitation, and in an instant conceal themselves in the grass. " At the same time that she shows her fears by her gesture and deportment, she uses a certain exclama- tion, Koe-ut, Koe-ut, and the young ones afterwards know that the presence of their adversary is de- nounced and hide themselves as before. "The wild tribes of birds have very frequent opportunities of knowing their enemies by observing the destruction they make among their progeny, of which every year but a small part escapes to matu- rity; but to our domestic birds these opportunities so rarely occur, that their knowledge of their distant enemies must frequently be delivered by tradition in the manner above explained, through many gene- rations. " This note of danger, as well as the other notes of the mother- turkey, when she calls her flock to their food, or to sleep under her wings, appears to be an artificial language, both as expressed by the mother, and as understood by the progeny. For a hen teaches this language with equal ease to the duck- lings she has hatched from supposititious eggs, and educates as her own offspring; and the wagtails or hedge-sparrows learn it from the young cuckoo, their foster-nursling, and supply him with food long after he can fly about, whenever they hear his cuckooing, which Linnaus tells us, is his call of hunger*. And * Syii. Nat. LANGUAGE. 251 all our domestic animals are readily taught to come to us for food when we use one tone of voice, and to fly from our anger when we use another. " Rabbits, as they cannot easily articulate sounds, and are formed into societies that live under ground* have a very different method of giving alarm. When danger is threatened, they thump on the ground with one of their hinder feet, and produce a sound that can be heard a great way by animals near the surface of the earth, which would seem to be an artificial sign both from its singularity and its aptness to the situation of the animal. "The rabbits on the island of Lor near Senegal have white flesh and are well-tasted, but do not barrow in the earth, so that we may suspect their digging themselves houses in this cold climate is an acquired art, as well as their note of alarm *. "The barking of dogs is another curious note of alarm, and would seem to be an acquired language, rather than a natural sign ; for * in the island of Juan Fernandez, the dogs did not attempt to bark, till some European dogs were put among them; and then they gradually begun to imitate them, but in a strange manner at first, as if they were learning a thing that was not natural to themV •* Linnaeus also observes that the dogs of America do not bark at strangers J; and the European dogs which have been carried to Guinea are said, in three or four generations, to cease to bark, and only howl, like the dogs that are natives of that Coast §. In reference to the thumping of the rabbit men- tioned by Dr. Darwin, we may state that the act * Adfcnson*5 Voyage to Senega!. t Vojrag* to S. Amenta, by Don G. Juan and Don Ant. d« TJlloa, B. ii. c.4. J Svst. Nat. § World Displayed, xv'ri, 26, and Zoonomia, $ xvi. 10, 1, 252 HABITS OF BIRDS. is by no means peculiar to that species, several other animals exhibiting it still more strikingly, and amongst others the porcupine (Hystrix* Brisson), which we have in numerous instances observed when in confinement to beat the floor of its cage with one of its hind feet so violently as to make us apprehend it might fracture the bone. We are not sufficiently, acquainted with the economy of the porcupine in a wild state to assign a cause for this thumping; but it appeared to us to mean defiance as plainly as the hissing of an owl or of a gander, or the crowing of a cock*. Those who have attended minutely to the language of fear, alarm, or defiance among birds, cannot fail to have remarked the considerable variety both of notes and intonation in the same species. Thus, as White of Selborne remarks, " when the hen turkey leads forth her young brood, she keeps a watchful eye, and if a bird of prey appear, though ever so- high in the air, the careful mother announces the enemy with a little inward moan and watches him with a steady and attentive look; but if he approach, her note becomes earnest and alarming, and her out- cries are redoubled t-'' In the instance of a cock bird expressing fear or giving an alarm to the hen of the approach of danger near the nest, the tones seem to be varied so as to give her due notice either to. keep close and still, or to make her escape with as much caution as she can. " This note,' 1 observes Mr. Syme, " is only comprehended by birds of the same species, though we have certainly seen birds of different genera appear as if alarmed by this note of fear sounded by a bird of a different species or genus ; but whether it was the note that alarmed them, or our presence, we cannot say. But we are pretty sure the notes of parent birds and the chirp of their young, * J. R. t Letter 85' LANGUAGE. 253 are only understood by birds of the same species, or rather we should say same family, for it appears to be a family language, understood reciprocally by parent birds and their young: for the young know the notes of the parents, and the parents those of their own brood, amongst all the young broods of other birds of the same species in the neighbour- hood ; and this they do as distinctly as the ewe knows the bleat of her own lamb, or the lamb the cry of its own mother, amongst a large flock. With regard to the note of alarm birds send forth on the approach of their natural enemies, whether a hawk, an owl, or a cat, we consider it to be a general language perfectly understood by all small birds, though each species has a note peculiar to itself. This note differs in sound from the note of fear or alarm given by them when man approaches near their nests. This last seems confined to particular species ; but this general alarm note (which is under- stood by all small birds), we should call their war- whoop or . gathering cry, for it is a true natural slogan *." The noisy cackle of jays, the cawing of rooks, and the incessant yelp of sparrows, appear, so far as we can judge, to be partly so many social signals for con- gregating in a particular place, and to be continued after the flock has assembled, either to warn strag- glers to what point they ought to wing their way, or, in the spirit of rivalry which prevails so extensively amongst birds, with the object of outvying each other in loudness of tone. It is remarkable, indeed, that most, if not all, gregarious birds are thus noisy, and differ much in this respect from solitary or sub- solitary birds. If a rook or a sea-gull, therefore, is by acci- dent separated from its companions, it will keep up * Brit. Song Birds, Intr. p. 31. 254 HABITS OF BIRDS. an incessant vociferous call, till a response is re- turned either from some other straggler, or from the colony to which it belongs. The necessity of such a habit as this is still more obvious in the case of those birds which migrate together at night. " Aquatic and gregarious birds," says White, " especially the nocturnal, that shift their quarters in the dark, are very noisy and loquacious; as cranes, wild-geese, wild- ducks, and the like ; their perpetual clamour prevents them from dispersing and losing their companions*;'' and accordingly, when residing near the sea or a large river, we have often heard the scream of these night-fliers " startle the dull ear of night" There appears, however, to be a decided and well- understood distinction between the call of such stragglers as we have just alluded to, and the gathering*cry when an individual has discovered abundance of food. A sea-mew, or what is more common, a pair of sea-mews, may thus be seen far inland, whither they have probably been driven by blowing weather, coursing about high in the air, sometimes flying in one direction and sometimes tacking about, and all the while uttering at intervals a peculiar call-note ; but even should this occur near the beach, no other sea-mew would think of coming at the signal. But, on the other hand, the note of intimation proceeding from an individual who has discovered a good fishing*station over a sand-bank* is so well understood and so quickly obeyed, that we have repeatedly seen some hundreds of birds hurry to the place in a few minutes, though none were previously observable. There are instances, however, of birds thus calling when on the wing, which it does not seem so na- tural to account for on either of these supposition*, * iAtfertft LANGUAGE. 255 We may mention the shrill harsh scream of the king-fisher and of the dipper (Cinclus aquaticus, Bechstein), which, so far as our observation goes, is repeated every time these birds take wing. It may, perhaps, as they are almost always seen in pairs, be meant as a signal-note to the mate,*— an explanation rendered more probable by the rapidity of their flight, which carries them in an instant to a great distance along a stream, so that without some such watch-call they might soon be separated. This call is not unlike the sound of a stick drawn rapidly across the uprights of an iron railing, and comes on the ear so quick and transient, that it is impossible to catch a view of the bird by trying to follow the sound *. It is ingeniously, and, as we think, correctly, re- marked by Mr. Knapp, that " as Nature, in all her ordinations, had a fixed design and fore-knowledge, it may be that each species had a separate voice as- signed it, that each might continue as created, dis- tinct and unmixed ; and the very few deviations and admixtures that have taken place, considering the lapse of time, association, and opportunity, united with the prohibition of continuing accidental devia- tions, are very remarkable, and indicate a cause and original motive. That some of the notes of birds are a language designed to convey a meaning, is obvious from the very different sounds uttered by these creatures at particular periods ; the spring voices become changed as summer advances, and the requirements of the early season have ceased : the summer excitements, monitions, informations, are not needed in autumn, and the notes conveying such intelligence are no longer heard. The periodical calls of animals, croaking of frogs, &c, afford the • J.B. 256 HABITS OF BIRDS. same reason for concluding that the sound of their voices, by elevation, depression, or modulation, con- veys intelligence equivalent to an uttered sentence. The voices of birds seem applicable, in most instances, to the immediate necessities of their condition ; such as the sexual call, the invitation to unite when dis- persed, the moan of danger, the shriek of alarm, the notice of food*." It was, no doubt, from such views as these that the notion originated of birds being possessed of a language, and of a knowledge of it having been obtained by certain individuals. The faculty of in- terpreting the language of birds is attributed, in classic fable, to various of the ancient diviners. Apollodorus, in his Bibliotheca, relates of Melam- pus, ' that he acquired this gift by having had his ears licked by serpents ; and that one of the ways by which he chiefly gained a knowledge . of futurity, was by listening to what he heard uttered by the birds as they flew over his head. Porphyry, in his book on abstinence from animal food, refers to Em- pedocles, Plato, and Aristotle, in support of the opinion that all the inferior animals are possessed both of reason and language; and, in addition to Melampus, he mentions Tiresias, Thales, and Apol- lonius of Tyansea, ' as having been able to interpret what they said. This is affirmed to have been one of the gifts bestowed upon Tiresias in compensation for his blindness by Minerva. Some of the Jewish rabbies have attributed a similar power to King Solomon. Even as late as the seventeenth century we find the Irish monk, Bonaventure Baron, in his work in defence of Scotus, speaking of a brother Franciscan, who, he says, understood the language of beasts, and was enabled by that means to foretell f Journ. of a Naturalist, p. 269, 3d edit. LANGUAGE. 65? coming events. The belief that birds are possessed of a knowledge of futurity, is part of the same notion which has led men to seek indications of what is about to happen in their flight and other move* ments, and which has given rise both to the ancient vaticination by augury, and to various popular superstitions which still survive. The power of communicating the gift of prophecy inherent in the serpent, was also a prominent article of the mystic creed of antiquity. The Trojan prophetess, Cassan- dra, is said to have acquired her art by having been left one night, when a child, together with her twin brother Helenus, in the temple of Apollo, when the two were found next morning with some serpents coiled round them and licking their ears. And piiny, in his Natural History, tells us that DeniOr eritus had mentioned the names of certain birds, whose blood being mixed together would produce a serpent of such virtue, that any one who ate of it should understand whatever was said by birds when they conversed together. This story is alluded Jo ky Addison in one of his Spectators *, It were to be wished that all fables fn natural history were as obvious to an ordinary reader as this ; for we meet with others in bopks wearing the air of well-ascertained facts, which could only ori- ginate in the feney of the writers. Ttys is ex«m,pUr Se/1 in the story told of the butcher-bird {Lq/nius excubitor), which is said to imitate the voices of other birds, by way of decaying them within his reach, that he may devour them ; " excepting this," i$ is addec(, " his nftturajl note is the same throughout * Vol, vii. No. &12. See upon (his subject Baric, Diction* naire, w articles Ca*sand?a, Melampus, Pereira, and Tit*sia«. See also some remarks ou the language of birds in Montaigne, Essais, Liv. ii. Es. 12, Apologia dquj: ftaymonde de Sebonde. z3 258 HABITS OF BIRDS. all seasons: when kept in a cage, even when he seems perfectly contented, he is always mute*." We venture to say, however, that nobody will ever be able to authenticate this statement, for the organs of the bird, were there no other obstacle, seem altoge- ther incapable of the variety of modulation which the habit imputed to it would require, though, like most, if not all other birds, this species can express more than one sort of feeling. Father Kircher, who at- tended minutely to this curious subject, has expressed the varjous notes of poultry by musical characters of which the following is a copy. Cock 9 8 notes. Cu-cu-li-cu, Cu-cu-li-cu, Cu-cu-li-cu. Hen after laying. s M i i°i i i°i 1 1 1 1 1 1 O To to to to to to to to to to to to to to to I rt ^ 1 1 1 1°> l°i 1 3=B m to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to Hen catling her chickens. Glo glo glo glo glo glo glo glo glo glo. * Anim. Biog,ii.219. LANGUAGE. 259 Call of the Quail. m « Bi-ke-bik, Bi-ke-bik, Bi-ke-bik*. M. Vaillant has also noted in a similar manner the peculiar calls of many of the birds which he observed in Southern Africa. * Kircher's Musurgia, i. tie habits a? BIRDS. Chapter XV r SONGS OF BIRDS. The songs of birds have given rise to several curious inquiries of no small interest to naturalists, some of which it may prove both amusing and in- structive to detail. We may, however, begin by stating, that, after investigating the subject with con- siderable attention for many years, we have come to the conclusion that the notes of birds which are de- nominated singing, may all be referred to hilarity and joy, or to rivalry and defiance, rather than to imitation or to love, as has been maintained by some naturalists of celebrity. Mr. Pennant gives the fol- lowing view of the matter :— " It may be worthy," he says, " of observation, that the female of no species of birds ever sings ; with birds it is the reverse of what occurs in human kind : among the feathered tribe, all the cares of life fall to the lot of the tender sex : theirs is the fatigue of incubation ; and the principal share iu nursing the helpless brood : to alleviate these fatigues, and to support her under them, nature hath given to the male the song, with all the little blandishments and soothing arts ; these he fondly exerts (even after courtship) on some spray contiguous to the nest, during the time his mate is performing her parental duties. To these we may add a few particulars, that fell within our notice during our inquiries among the bird-catchers, such as, that thev immediately kill - SONGS. 261 the hens of every species of birds they take, being incapable of singing*." Buffon makes the qualified statement that "the females are much more silent than the males, song being generally withheld from themt; ,, probably resting on the authority of Lord Bacon, who says " that cock birds, among singing birds, are ever the better singers J." The latter again most likely fol- lowed Aristotle, who says, "some males sing like their females, as appears among nightingales, but the female gives over song when she hatches §." Daines Barrington, assuming it as a fact that females never sing, proceeds to divine the reason thereof, inferring it to be because it might betray their nest should they sing while sitting. on their eggs||. But before drawing such a conclusion, it would have been well to make sure of the fact. It is certainly true as a general position, that female birds do not sing ; yet many exceptions have been recorded. We possess, at present, in the same aviary with two green- birds and an aberdevine (Carduelis spinus), a female canary who sings a great deal. Her notes indeed are harsh and unmusical; but are both loud and uttered in a full and sustained tone of voice, though altogether unlike the notes either of the male canary or of any other bird with which we are acquainted. It is no less worthy of remark that this female canary is never excited to rivalry by the songs of a number of other birds in the same apartment, as the cocks of every species commonly are ; for she usually remains silent during the attempts of the others to sing each other down, and prefers singing at night when the others are for the most part silent. We have also re- * Brit. Zool. ii. 335. t Oiseaux, Intr. I Sylva Sylvarum, p. 56, ed. fol. 1664. § Hist. Anim. iv. 9. || Phil. Trans, lxii. "■W* 362 HABITS OP BIRDS. marked in birds feared from the nest, that the females will record, as it is termed, the first rehearsal (inex- pertum carmen, as Statius gives it in his * Sylvae,') warbling in the low preluding manner peculiar to all birds some time before coming into full song. This was particularly the case with the green^birds just mentioned, an4 one female green-bird will at present record in a similar manner, while her brother of the same age begins to sing in good earnest*. Mr. Sweet, the well-known botanical writer, and author of the ' British Warblers,' says that ** females seldom sing : I had a female red -start, which sang a little ; and female bulfinches sing as frequently as the males." Again, Mr. Sweet says, " I have had several female birds, which never attempted to sing ; but now I have two that sing frequently ; one is a female black-cap ; she sings a note peculiar to her- self, and not the least like the male, or any other bird with whieh I am acquainted. I kept her several years before she begat* to sing. I have also a female willow-wren, that sings nearly as much as the cock ; this bird was bred up from the nest, and did not sing at all the first year. Her note is quite different from that of the male, but resembles it sufficiently to indi- cate that it belongs to the same species -f/' " In nightingales," says M. Montbeillard, "as in other species, there are females which enjoy some prero- gatives of the male, and particularly participate of his song. I saw a female of that sort which was tame; her warble resembled that of the male, yet neither so full nor so varied ; she retained it until spring, when resuming the character of the sex, she exchanged it for the occupation of building her nest and laying her eggs, though she had no mate. It * J. R. t Magazine of Nat. Hist. i. 346. SONGS. 263 would seem that in warm countries, as in Greece* such females are pretty common, both in this species and many others ; at least this is implied in a pas- sage of Aristotle*." Aldrovand, in deducing lessons of morality from this bird, thinks the female ought to be imitated in her silence by women, who " in his time," on the contrary, " were loquacious, babbling, verbose, garrulous, talkative, tonguy, and never kept secrets f.*' With respect, again, to Mr* Harrington's inference that the Want of song in the female is for the pur- pose of concealing the eggs, Mr. Sweet further says, " I certainly have never heard a thrush sing when sitting/' (as had been asserted by a correspondent in a recent periodical work,) u perhaps for want of attend- ing to it ; but I have frequently heard and seen the male black-cap sing while sitting on the eggs, and have found its nest by it more than once ; the male of this species sitting nearly as much as the female J." These well-authenticated facts, as well as more that we Could adduce, are fatal to the theory* St. Ambrose, on the other hand, asserts that " the nightingale by the sweetness of her song solaces her- self during the long nights in which Bhe is hatching her eggs, watchful and sleepless §/' Another hypothesis advocated by several naturalists, and adopted by poets, is that the singing of birds is the language of courtship and affection. " The song of male birds," says Bufibn, " springs from the emo- tion of love : the canary in his cage, the green-bird in the fields, the oriole in the woods, chaunt their notes with a fond, sonorous voice* and their mates * Oiseaux, Art. Le Rosignol ; and Aristotle, iv. 9. f Loquacule, afgutulae, verbose, dictculae, linguae**, garrul* et arcanorum minime tenaces. — Ornithol, ii. 346. X Mag. of Nat Hist ii. 113. $ Quoted by AldroYMd ft* above. 264 HABITS OF BIRDS. reply in more feeble strains." He adds, what is by no means the fact, that " the nightingale, when he first arrives in spring, is silent, begins with faltering, infrequent airs, and it is not till the dam sits on her eggs that he pours out the warm melody of his heart : then he relieves and soothes her tedious incubation ; then he redoubles his caresses, and warbles with deeper pathos *.V. On the contrary, we uniformly observe, among the innumerable nightingales which annually arrive in our neighbourhood in spring, that the males sing out in as full clear notes on their first appearance (usually many days before the arrival of the females) as they ever do afterwards t- Buffon concludes that his opinion derives additional support from the circumstance of song-birds becoming silent, or their notes being less sweet, after the breeding season is over }. Another naturalist of eminence, Colonel Mon- tagu, is more circumstantial in his arguments for the same opinion, and though we do not agree altogether with his explanations, the greater number of his facts are unquestionable. " The males of song-birds," he says, " and many others, do not in general search for the female ; but, on the contrary, their business in the spring is to perch on some conspicuous spot, breath- ing out their full notes, which, by instinct, the female knows, and repairs to the spot to choose her mate. This is particularly verified with respect to the sum- mer-birds of passage. The nightingale, and most of its genus, although timid and shy to a great degree, mount aloft, and incessantly pour forth their strains, each seemingly vying in its love-laboured song before the females arrive. No sooner do they make their appearance than dreadful battles ensue, and their * Otseaux, Intr. f J. JR. I Oiseaux, as above. SONGS. 265 notes are considerably changed ; sometimes their song is hurried through without the usual grace and ele- gance ; at other times modulated into a soothing melody. The first we conceive to be a provocation to battle on the sight of another male; the last an amorous cadence, or courting address. This variety of song lasts no longer than till the female is fixed in her choice, which is, in general, in a few days after her arrival ; and if the season is favourable, she soon begins the task allotted to her sex. " The male now no more exposes himself to sing as before, nor are his songs heard so frequently or so loud ; but while she is searching for a secure place to build her nest in, he is no less assiduous in attend- ing her with ridiculous gestures, accompanied with notes peculiarly soft. When the female has chosen a spot for nidification, the male constantly attends her flight to and from the place, and sits upon some branch near, while his mate instinctively places the small portion of material she each time brings to rear a commodious fabric for her intended brood. When the building is complete, and she has laid her portion of eggs, incubation immediately takes place. The male is now heard loud again, but not near so fre- quently as at first ; he never rambles from her hear- ing, and seldom from her sight ; if she leaves her nest, he soon perceives it, and . pursues her, some- times accompanied with soft notes of love. When the callow brood appears, he is instantly apprized of it, either by instinct, or by the female carrying away the fragment shells to some distant place. The male is now no more heard in tuneful glee, unless a second brood should force the amorous song again ; his whole attention is now taken up in satisfying the nutrimental calls of his tender infant race, which he does with no less assiduity than his mate, carrying them food, and returning frequently with the muting 2a 266 HABITS OF BIRDS. of the young in his beak, which is dropped at a dis- tance from the nest *." Plausible as this reasoning seems to be, it will not be difficult to adduce numerous facts with which it will not accord* It is not indeed a correct statement of the fact, to say that birds sing only during the seasons of pairing and breeding, as Buffon and Montagu assume. This is the case with the greater number of the seed-eating song-birds, both wild and tame ; but not with the sod-billed birds. We have not many of these resident with us during winter, the greater number migrating to more southern latitudes, where they can find an abundant supply of insects and fruits; but all of those which do winter with us continue more or less in song after having moulted* The most conspicuous and best known of these autumnal and winter song-birds is the red-breast* Both Montagu and White are in error when they say this bird " sings throughout the winter except in severe weather" or "during frost"; for though con- tinued frost or snow, by depriving it of a due supply of food* may render it silent, we can answer for the fact of having, not once* but frequently, heard the red-breast singing as merrily during sharp frost, as in the heyday of summer or in the mild sunshine of autumn. A much smaller and more delicate bird, the wren (Anorthura communis) y also sings in all weathers during the autumn and winter, as well as the little dunnock (Accentor modnlaris) ; and they are frequently accompanied by the thrush and the black- bird. Though the latter do not sing so long and so frequently as in summer, this appears to be more on account of the physical languor arising from a precarious supply of food than from its not being the pairing season. That what has been stated is not peculiar to the milder weather of the southern coua* ♦ Ornithological {feu, Intt. 1st ed* j pi \7% f 24 «L SONGS. 267 tries, is proved by the same thing occurring in the north. In notes of observations made at Mussel- burgh in 1818, we find the following: " On the 26th October, heard a thrush in the morning singing in an orchard in as sprightly a manner as if it had been in April ; and again in the evening of the same day, heard another thrush singing on the banks of the Esk at some miles distant from the orchard." — " On the 8th December observed a wren singing in the same orchard at day- break, and it was answered by a hedge-sparrow" (Aocentor modular is). While writing this paragraph (Jan. 18, 1839) a song-thrush is singing in a hedge opposite our window as finely as if it were May*. *• We have one little bird,'* says Mr. Knapp, H the woodlark (Alauda arbor ea) 9 that in the early parts of the autumnal months delights us with its harmony ; and its carols may be heard in the air commonly during the ealm sunny mornings of this season. They have a softness and quietness perfectly in uni- son with the sober, almost melancholy, stillness of the hour. The skylark also sings now, and its song is very sweet, full of harmony, cheerful as the blue sky and gladdening beam in which it circles and sports, and known and admired by all ; but the voice of the woodlark is local, not so generally heard from its softness, must almost be listened for, to be distin- guished, and has not any pretensions to the hilarity of the former. This little bird sings likewise in the spring t- n In addition, we have not a doubt that all our little summer visitants, from the whitethroat to the night- ingale, continue in song during the winter in the countries to which they migrate. M. Savigny, who observed the whitethroat in Egypt J, mentions * J. R. f Jouni. of a Naturalist, p. 265, 3rd edit. * Grand Ouyrage aur l'Bgypt, Part Zool. p. 97& 268 HABITS OF BIRDS. its singing on the wing,: as it does with us during summer. M. Sonnini indeed says that nightingales, which " live during the winter in the verdant and smiling plains of Lower Egypt, and perhaps also on the coasts of Syria and Barbary, during their passage and their stay on these foreign shores, do not warble those melodious songs, those varied and brilliant modulations, with which they night and day make our woods resound, inasmuch as they do not busy themselves with pairing and breeding : they are silent, because they require not to sing of love*." Yet we cannot help thinking that his observations were partly biassed by the theory with which he follows them up, more particularly as we have the testimony of M. Le Marie to the fact of the nightin- gale singing in Africa f. When these birds, again, are kept in cages or avia- ries in Europe during the winter, they sing as well as the red-breasts and the wrens out of doors; another strong proof of the incorrectness of M. Sonninf s remark. We have for two winters possessed a male black-cap (Sylvia atricapilla), which begins to war- ble in autumn about the time the red-breasts come into our gardens, and perch upon houses to sing. Towards Christmas it comes into full song, piping so shrilly at times as to be rather too much for our ears to bear with pleasure. This, however, is at least three or four months before the usual time of pairing, and hence it is fair to conclude, that the pairing is not the cause of its singing, no more than the same circumstance will account for the winter songs of the red-breast and other soft-billed birds, which are continued in the fields as well as by those which are tamed {. Mr. Sweet, who has successfully kept most of our * Voyages, ii. 401. f Quoted by Montbeillard, Ois. art. Rosignol. - J J.R. summer visitants for several years, finds that they uniformly sing during the winter. Of the white-throat (Curruoa cinerea, B&isson) he says, " One that I at present possess will sing for hours together against a nightingale, now in the beginning of January, and it will not suffer itself to be outdone." Of the wheatear (Savicola wnpnihe* Bech&tein), he says, *' A pair that I possess at present were caught in September last; began to sing in a few days, and have continued in song ever since ; and now, while writing this, the 22d day of December, they are in full song." Of the nightingale, he says, " It will begin singing at the commencement of December, and continue till June. I had a very fine one that only left off singing the latter end pf June ; it began again a little in September* and by the 1st of Iter oerabey it was in full song*." Pennant was of opinion that it is chiefly the young male recUbreasts of the preceding summer which sing during autumn and winter t. This opinion, if true, would certainly be adverse to the theory of Bnffon and Colonel Montagu; but the thrushes above stated to \\*m been heard singing in October, were not young ones, these being readily distingui&hr able, when they first attempt tp sing* by particular notes, resembling the following t * and popaetime* The recording of young birds is indeed always very different from their song, as is also the warble of old birds after moulting, as M. Bechstein has justly remarked. ** It is/' he says, " a very striking • British Warblers. f Brit. Zool. ii. 147. $ J.B. 2a3 270 HABITS OF BIRDS. circumstance, that birds which continue in song nearly the whole year, such as the red-breast, the siskin, and the goldfinch, are obliged, after their moulting is over, to record, as if they had forgot their song. I am convinced, however, that this exercise is less a study than an endeavour to bring the organs of voice into proper flexibility, what they utter being properly only a sort of warble, of which the notes have almost no resemblance to the perfect song ; and, by a little attention, we may perceive how the throat is gradually brought to emit the notes of the usual song. This view, then, leads us to ascribe the circumstance not to defect of memory, but rather to a roughness in the vocal organs, arising from disuse. It is in this way that the chaffinch (FringiUa spiza) makes endeavours during several successive weeks before attaining to its former perfection, and that the nightingale (Sylvia luscinia) tries, for a long time, to model the strophes of its superb song before it can produce the full extent of compass and brilliance *•" It might be alleged, indeed, that the old birds who sing in autumn, are influenced by association, inas- much as this season resembles the spring ; for though spring is all youth and verdure, while autumn wears the aspect of decline, and woods and fields, instead of lively green, display nothing but sombre tints of yellow and brown, yet the temperature of the air has much the same mildness, and food is equally if not more abundant. This, however, is a very partial view, with which the continuance of these autumnal songs during winter is altogether inconsistent. Colonel Montagu, however, endeavours to obviate the objection by some ingenious arguments ; and, in support of the general theory, - he brings forward experiments tried by himself for that express purpose. " The continuation of song," he says, " in caged * Ornithologisches Taschenbuch, Vor. SONGS. 271 birds, by no means proves it is not occasioned by a stimulus to love ; indeed, it is likely the redundancy of animal matter, from plenty of food and artificial heat, may produce it ; and this is sufficient for con- tinuing their song longer than birds in their natural wild state, because they have a constant stimulus ; whereas wild birds have it abated by a commerce with the other sex, by which, and other causes, it is prevented. It is true wild birds are heard to sing sometimes in the middle of winter, when the air is mild, animated by the genial warmth of the sun, which acts as a stimulus. But we shall now proceed to show, by experiments, that birds in their natural state may be forced to continue their song much longer than usual. A male red-start made its ap- pearance near my house early in the spring, and soon commenced his love-tuned song. In two days -after, a female arrived, which for several days the male was continually chasing, emitting- soft inter- rupted notes, accompanied by a chattering noise. This sort of courting lasted for several days, soon after which the female took possession of a hole in a wall close to my house, where it prepared a nest and deposited six eggs. The male kept at a distance from the nest, and sometimes sang, but not so loud or so frequently as at first,, and never when he ap- proached nearer his mate. When the eggs had been sat on a few days, I endeavoured to catch the female on the nest, but she escaped through my hano". However, she- soon returned, and I caught her. The male did not immediately miss his mate; but on the next day he renewed his vociferous calls, and his song became incessant for a week, when I discovered a second female; his note immediately changed, and all his actions as before returned. This experiment has been repeated with the nightin- gale with the same success; and a golden-crested 87ft HABITS 09 BIRDS. wren, wiui never found another mate, continued his song from the month of May till the latter end of August On the contrary, another of the same species, who took possession of a fir-tree in my garden, ceased its notes as soon as the young were hatched*" To us, however, this explanation of the facte appears too partial and contracted, the song of the birds being move naturally accounted for, as we think, from the state of their spirits than by the sup- position of its having been meant as the language of courtship ; and, accordingly, it does not consist with our observation that the state of the weather has much influence upon them, except in so far as it may affect their supply of food ; and hence it is that caged birds remain much longer in song than if they were at large in the fields. We have further remarked, and it agrees with the experience of Mr. Sweet and others who keep tame birds, that the male will sing better, and for a longer period, when there is a female of his own species in the same cage than when he is alone t; whereas, according to Colonel Montagu's explanation of his experiments, namely, that the song is uttered chiefly to attract the female to the vicinity, this ciroumstance ought not to take place. The theory in question has been opposed by another which maintains the peculiar notes of various song-birds to be derived from imitation. The Hon. Daines Barrington tried a number of experiments for the purpose of supporting this latter notion* which it may prove interesting to give in his own words : — "I have educated nestling linnets, 1 * says he, "under the three best singing larks, the skylark, woodlark, and titlark, every one of which, instead o+ * Oritftb. Diet. Intr. first ed. ; p, 477, second ed, f J. JR. SONGS. 273 the linnet's song, adhered entirely to that of their respective instructors. •• When the note of the titlark linnet was thoroughly fixed, I hung the bird in a room with two common linnets, for a quarter of a year, which were full in song ; the titlark linnet, however, did not borrow any passage from the linnet's song, but adhered stead- fastly to that of the titlark. " I had some curiosity to find out whether a Eu- ropean nestling would equally learn the note of an African bird; I therefore educated a young linnet under a Vengolina (Linaria Aiigolensis, Brisson), which imitated its African master so exactly, without any mixture of the linnet's song, that it was im- possible to distinguish the one from the other. " This Vengolina linnet was absolutely perfect without ever uttering a single note by which it could have been known to be a linnet. In some of my other experiments, however, the nestling linnet re- tained the call of its own species, or what the bird- catchers term the linnet's chuckle, from some resem- blance to that word when pronounced. "All my nestling linnets were three weeks old when taken from the nest; and by that time they frequently learn their own call from the parent birds, which consists of only a single note. "To be certain, therefore, that a nestling will not have even the call of its species, it should be taken from the nest when only a day or two old ; because though nestlings cannot see till the seventh day, yet they can hear from the instant they are hatched, and probably, from that circumstance, attend to sounds more than they do afterwards, especially as the call of the parents announces the arrival of their food. ' " I must own that I am not equal myself, nor can I procure any person to take the trouble of breeding •up a bird of this age, as the odds against its being 274 HABITS OF BIRDS. reared are almost infinite. The warmth, indeed, of incubation may be, in some measure, supplied by cotton and fires ; but these delicate animals require, in this state, being fed almost perpetually, whilst the nourishment they receive should not only be prepared with great attention, but given in very small portions at a time. " Though I must admit, therefbre, that I have not reared myself a bird of so tender an age, yet I have happened to see both a linnet and a goldfinch which were taken from their nests when only two or three days old. " The first of these belonged to Mr. Matthews, an apothecary at Kensington, which, from a want of other sounds to imitate, almost articulated the. words pretty boy, as well as some other short sentences. I heard the bird myself repeat the words pretty boy ; and Mr. Matthews assured me that he had neither the note or call of any bird whatsoever. "This talking linnet died last year; and many persons went from London to hear him speak. " The goldfinch I have before mentioned was reared in the town of Knighton, in Radnorshire, which I happened to hear as I was walking by the house where it was kept. 44 1 thought, indeed, that a wren was singing, and I went into the house to inquire after it, as that little bird seldom lives long in a cage. " The people of the house, however, told me that they had no bird but a goldfinch, which they con- ceived to sing its own natural note, as they called it ; upon which I stayed a considerable time in the room, whilst its notes were merely those of a wren without the least mixture of goldfinch. " On further inquiries, I found that the bird had been taken from the nest when only two or three days old,— -that it was hung in a window which was SON438, 27S opposite to a small garden, whence the nestling had undoubtedly acquired the notes of the wren, without having any opportunity of learning even the call of the goldfinch. " These facts which I have stated seem to prove, very decisively, that birds have not any minute ideas of the notes which are supposed to be peculiar to each species. But it will possibly be asked, why, in a wild state, they adhere so steadily to the same song, insomuch that it is well known, before the bird is heard, what notes you are to expect from him. " This, however, arises entirely from the nestling's attending only to the instruction of the parent bird, whilst it disregards the notes of all others which may perhaps be singing round him. " Young canary birds are frequently reared in a room where there are many other sorts, and yet I have been informed that they only learn the song of the parent cock. " Every one knows that the common house-spar- row, when in a wild state, never does anything but chirp ; this, however, does not arise from want of powers in this bird to imitate others, but because he only attends to the parental note. " But, to prove this decisively, I took a common sparrow from the nest, when it was fledged, and educated him under a linnet ; the bird, however, by accident, heard a goldfinch also ; and his song was, therefore, a mixture of the linnet and goldfinch. " I have tried several experiments in order to observe from what circumstances birds fix upon any particular note when taken from the parents, but cannot settle this with any sort of precision, any more than at what period of their recording they determine upon the song to which they will adhere. " I educated a young robin under a very fine nightingale» which, however, began already to be out 276 HABITS OF BIRDS. of song, and was perfectly mute in less than a fort- night " This robin afterwards sung three parts in four nightingale ; and the rest of his song was what the bird-catchers call rubbish, or no particular note whatsoever. 44 1 hung this robin nearer to the nightingale than to any other bird ; from which first experiment I conceived, that the scholar would imitate the master which was at the least distance from him. " From several experiments, however, which I have since tried, I find it to be very uncertain what notes the nestling will most attend to, and often their song is a mixture ; as in the instance which I have before stated of the sparrdw. " I must own also, that I conceived from the ex- periment of educating the robin under a nightingale, that the scholar would fix upon the note which it first heard when taken from the nest; I imagined like- wise that, if the nightingale had been fully in song, the instruction for a fortnight would have been sufficient. " I have, however, since tried the following expe- riment, which convinces me so much depends upon circumstances and perhaps caprice in the scholar, that no general inference or rule can be laid down with regard to either of these suppositions. *' I educated a nestling robin under a wood lark - linnet, which was full in song and hung very near to him for a month together ; after which the robin was removed to another house, where he could only hear a skylark-linnet. The consequence was that the nestling did not sing a note of woodlark (though I afterwards hung him again just above the woodlark- linnet), but adhered entirely to the song of the sky- lark-linnet*." * Philosophical Transactions, vol. lxiii. SONGS. 277 These opinions did not originate with- Harrington, for we find it asserted by father Kircher, that ** the young nightingales which are hatched under other birds, never sing till they are instructed by other nightingales* ;" and the author of the ' Physicae Curi- osae' saysf, that the young are taught to sing by their mothers, — both following Aristotle, who says of the nightingale, " she seems indeed to instruct her young ones, and to repeat to them certain passages for their imitation, as the language does not come naturally in the same manner as the voice, but must be acquired by exercise and study J." The same view has been adopted by a recent Danish naturalist, M. Gamborg§ ; and the Hon. and -Rev. W. H. Herbert gives a similar statement, which, from his experience in keeping cage-birds, is entitled to our best consideration. " The nightingale," he remarks, " is peculiarly apt, in its first year, when confined, to learn the song of any • other bird that it hears. Its beautiful song is the result of long attention to the melody of other birds of its species. The young whin- chat, wheatear, and others of the genus Saxicola, which have little natural variety of song, are no less ready, in confinement, to learn from other species, and become as much better songsters, as the nightin- gale degenerates, by borrowing from others. The bull-finch, whose natural notes are weak, harsh, and insignificant, has a greater facility than any other bird of learning human music. It is pretty evident that- the Germans, who bring vast numbers of them to Lon- don, which they have taught to pipe, must have in- structed them, more by whistling to them than by an * Musurgia, Cap. De Lusciniis. t Page 1200. j Hist. Anira. iv. 49. § Comment peut ou parvenir & perfectionner le Chant des Oiseauxde dob Bois? 8vo. Copenhague, 1800. 2b 378 HABITS OF BIRDS. organ, and thai these instructions have been accom- panied by a motion of the head and body in accord- ance with the time, which habit the birds also ac- quire, and is, no doubt, of great use to them in re- gulating their song. The canary-bird, whose song, in its artificial state in Europe, is a compound of notes acquired from other birds, is able to learn the song of the nightingale, but is not able to exe- cute it with the same power as the nightingale itself. I have never heard one that sung it quite correctly, but I have heard it approach near enough to prove that, with more careful education, it might learn it right. Those who have taken the most pains about it, have been contented with placing under nightin- gales young canaries, as soon as they can feed themselves ; but such will necessarily have learned part at least of their parent's song. The linnet and linnet-mule are said to be able to come nearer the ex- ecution of the nightingale, when properly instructed. The best way would be to use an experienced hen canary-bird, who will rear her young without the cock, and to take the cock away before the young ones are hatched : or to set the canary eggs under a hen paired with a gold-finch, which, kept in a darkish situ- ation, will probably not sing ; to remove the Gock, at all events, if it sings, as soon as possible ; to place the young birds very close to the singing nightingale ; and, as soon as practicable, to remove the hen canary also. The rearing of the canary-bird by hand, even from the egg, has been accomplished by artificial heat and unremitting care. Birds learn the song of others most readily when they are not in song them- selves, and when they are darkened and covered, so that their attention is not distracted ; for birds are amused by what they see as much as we are, when not alarmed by it. I had once a tame white-throat, which, when let oat of its cage, appeared to take BONGS. 470 the greatest pleasure in minutely examining the figured patterns of the chair-covers, perhaps expect- ing to find something eatable among the leaves of the pattern. I reared a black-cap and some white- throats, taken when a fortnight old, under a singing nightingale, and removed ail other singing birds, but they sung their wild notes pretty truly ; on the other hand, a black-cap, two years old, from hearing a nightingale sing a great deal, acquired two passages from its song, and executed them correctly, though not very powerfully. I understand that the robin, reared in a cage, is not observed to learn from other birds, but sings the wild note pretty accurately. I ean at present suggest no key to these diversities ; nor do I understand why the young nightingale, taken when the old birds cease to sing, will, in con- finement, learn the note of other birds, and retain them, although it may hear its own species sing again as soon as they recommence in the autumn ; and yet, at liberty, with the same cessation of the parental song, St would have learned nothing else ; unless it be that from want of other amusement, it listens more when it is confined* " But though we were to grant all the faets stated by these authors to be rigidly correct, we should not be disposed to adopt their conclusion, which is plainly opposed by other facts within the power of every observer to verify. We do not, however, believe Kireher's story of nestling birds hatched un- der other birds never attempting to sing, any more than we should believe that a human infant in like manner deprived of the care of its own species would speak Hebrew or high Dutch. " A sky- lark," it has been stated, " was taken from the nest before it was fledged and reared by the hand in town, * Notes to White's Selborne, edit. 8vo. 1832. 280 HABITS -OF BIRDS. where it could not hear any of its own species ; yet when it was grown, its song was not distinguish- able from those in a wild state. Could it have ac- quired these notes, while in the nest, from the parent bird, in a similar way to what Dr. Darwin supposed infants to acquire a taste for Hogarth's line of beauty by fondling on their mothers' bosom*? and could it have retained this musique de berceau (cradle music) in its memory for more than six months without ever attempting, as the birds'-men express it, even to record. There is one curious, though very anoma- lous fact, which might be adduced in support of this view. The celebrated Dr. Rush of Philadelphia was called to visit the Countess of L — L — L who was in a high fever. In her delirium, she uttered a num- ber of outlandish speeches, which one of the attend- ants recognised to be pure Welsh. The Doctor was struck with the singularity of the circumstance, as the Countess, he was told, did not understand a word of Welsh. On inquiry, however, he found that she had been nursed by a Welsh woman, but had been removed before she could articulate a word, and had not heard Welsh spoken from that time till she had been seized with the fever f. But a solitary and anomalous fact like this will not authorize us to conclude that the young skylark retained in like manner the song of its field nurse \" The theorists who maintain that the songs of birds are acquired by individual imitation, find no little difficulty in accounting for the uniformity which usually prevails among the notes of those of the same species. They tell us that the young birds learn the song of the parent birds by associating exclusively * Zoonomia, § xvi. c. 1. p. 201. t American Museum, July, 1787. | J. Rennie on the Singing of Birds, Edinb, Mag, Jan. 1819, p. 10. SONGS. 081 with them before they can provide for themselves, and that afterwards they frequent the same places as the Feet of their kind ; but, unfortunately for this explana- tion, the faet is that song-birds for the most part be- come silent after their young are hatched. Neither is it true, that song-birds associate exclusively with their own species, and, although they did, it would not follow that they never hear other birds. How then does it happen, since they are, by the theory, so prone to imitation, that they never in a wild state inter- mingle the notes of others with those peculiar to their own species? Upon the principles of the theory every bird ought to be a polyglot. We have in many instances verified the experi- ments of Barrington on caged birds, most of which when young will readily learn the notes of the birds in the same room. We have, for example, at present, a young eoek green-bird (Fringilla chhrit, Tbm- minok), which from hearing the eall of the sparrows out- of doors has acquired H perfectly, and from hanging near a black-cap, he has also learned many of its notes, though he executes them indifferently, perhaps from deficiency of voiee. He has more re- cently attempted some of the notes of a robin whose cage hangs under his. - Yet notwithstanding that he has thus learned part of the notes of three or four different birds, he can also utter the peculiar call-note of his own species, though we are pretty certain he has not heard it uttered sinee he left his parents' nest when only a few days old. But no wild green-bird ever learns in this manner the notes of various species, nor would our bird, we are well convineed, had he not been kept stationary in the cage, and conse- quently had the notes he has learned daily sounding in his ears, till he could not forget them. In a wild state, he would either have kept at a distance from other species, or would not iiave attended to them ; 2b3 282 HABITS OP BIRDS. whereas, in the cage, he could not avoid heating the sparrows, the black-cap, and the red-breast *. Mr. Sweet is an advocate for the theory we are considering, from having observed similar facts with- out having adverted to the different circumstances in which wild and caged birds are placed* Of the red-start (Sylvia Phcenicurus), he says, "it may be taught to sing any tune that is whistled or sung to it: one that I was in possession of for some years back, learnt the Copenhagen waltz, that it had frequently heard sung, only it would sometimes stop in the middle and say chipput, a name by which it was generally called, and which it would repeat every time I entered the room where it was, either by night or by dayf." M. Bechstein asserts, that the red-start " knows how to embellish its natural song (composed of several rather pretty strophes), by adding the notes of other birds with which it associates. One which had built under the eaves of my house imitated pretty closely a caged chaffinch in the window underneath ; and my neighbour had another in his garden, which repeated some of the notes of a black-cap that had a nest hard by. This facility of appropriating the song of other birds, is rare in a wild state, and appears to be almost confined to this species}." Even this anomalous instance may be easily explained on the principle we have stated, for the red-start having its nest near where the caged chaffinch was stationed was forced to hear its notes till they were . impressed on its memory. The researches of comparative anatomy have thrown much light upon the peculiar structure of song-birds, though there remain still many points of interest for future investigation. This indeed, as * J. R. f British Warblers, m loco. % Taschenbuch, Art. Rothsohwaazchem SONGS. 283 we have already remarked, was a. subject, taken up by the earlier naturalists * ; and most of. their obser- vations have been confirmed and extended by John Hunter, Girardi f, Vicq d* Azyr J, Malacarne §, Ba- ron Cuvier||, and Ranzani f . Amongst other curious facts, it is stated in Clayton's Letters from Virginia, that Dr. Moulin discovered that in birds, contrary to what takes place in man and in quadrupeds, there is almost a direct passage from one ear to the other, sp that, if the drum (tympanum) of both ears be pierced, water, when poured in, will pass from the one to the other. There is no spiral shell (cochlea), but a small passage which opens into a cavity formed by two plates of bone, that constitute a double skull all round the head. The outer plate of bone is sup- ported by many hundreds of small thread-like columns, or rather fibres. Now this passage was observed to be much larger in singing-birds than in others that do not sing, — so very remarkably so, that any person to whom the difference has once been shown, may easily judge by the head what bird has the faculty of singing, though he may be otherwise ignorant of its habits**. We have not seen any notice of this singular circumstance by any other inquirer. The remarks of Syme upon this subject are ap- . propriate, and, so far as we know, correct. " The notes,'* he tells us, " of soft-billed birds are finely toned, mellow, and plaintive; those of the hard-billed species are sprightly, cheerful, and rapid. This dif- ference proceeds from the construction of the vocal organs. As a large pipe of an organ produces a * See page 225, et seq. f Oposcoli Scelti di Milano, viii. 88. J Mem. Acad, des Sciences, pour 1779. & M6m. della Societa Ital. iv. 18. || Anat. Corap. iv. 454. H Elera. di Zoologia, iii. 1. p. 35, 4 to. Bologna, 1821. ** Miscellanea Curiosa, iii. 291. 284 HABITS OF BIRDS. deeper and more mellow-toned note than a small pipe, so the windpipe of the nightingale, which is wider than that of the canary, sends forth a deeper and more mellow-toned note. Sod-billed birds, also, sing more from the lower part of the throat than the hard-billed species. This, together with the greater width of the tube in the nightingale and other soft- billed warblers, fully accounts for their soft, round, mellow notes, compared with the shrill, sharp, and clear notes of the canary and other hard-billed song- birds *» Most poets, in accordance with these remarks, have represented the notes of the nightingale as plaintive and sorrowful, though others have also spoken of them as sprightly and cheerful. Hence, to use the words of Lord Byron, " it has been much doubted whether the notes of this * lover of the rose' are sad or merry f." This poet, indeed, has decided the matter most correctly when he says, " Though his note is somewhat sad, He'll try JtoroNce. a strain more gtadX" Looking upon this as the true state of the case, we are not much disposed to go Into this apparently idle controversy ; but the representations which the poets have given of the nightingale's song must interest every lover of nature, and therefore we shall select a few, were it only to repel a strange and unwarrantable misrepresentation by a recent periodical writer, who signs himself Anti-Philomel, of the " Sweet bird, that shuns the noise of folly. 99 " In point of fact," says this reviler, " there is no- thing either sad or sentimental in the song of the nightingale. It is an incessant tinkling, trilling, * British Song-Birds. f Bri^e of Abydos, Notes, p. 65, ed. 6vo. t Ibid. p. 15, line 292. S0K6S. 285 monotonous, yet laboured effort of execution; and with the exception of the ' jug, jug, jug,' which oc- casionally interrupts the thin and Rossinian charac- ter of its strains, there is not a poetical note in its whole gamut. Philomel is the Henrietta Son tag of the woods — unim passioned, artificial, but miraculous in point of delicacy of execution ; and the fact of her being a night vocalist, instead of establishing her claims to sentimentality, as ' Most musical, most melancholy,* proves only the self-conviction of the bird, that its strains are incompetent to vie with those of its fellow- choristers, — or, perhaps, an envious and invidious desire of distinction. The ancient apologue, of the nightingale expiring in the successful effort of rival- ship with the poet's lute, proves that it has ever been suspected of a paltry and narrow jealousy of com- petition. • " Who, that has ever listened to the mellow vesper hymn of the blackbird, or the thrush-notes gush- ing in bursts of gladness from the heart of a haw- thorn bush, but must acknowledge that there dwells more poetry in their music than in all the demi-semi- quavers of the ' plaintive Philomel ? ' What lover of poetical justice but longs to transpose .the line of Petrarch, ' E garrir Progne,— e pianger Filomele,' and distribute the garrizitura (chatter) to the tink- ling nightingale*?" Others even go so far as to speak of the screeching or hissing of the nightingale. Sidonius Apollinaris associates the " hissing night- ingale" (Philomelam sibilantem) with the crinking of grasshoppers, the croaking of frogs, the screaming of geese, the cackling of hens, and the cawing of rooks f. In the same spirit Aristophanes is interpreted by some to say, the "stridulous nightingale" (Arfhwp * Court Journal, May 14th, 1831. f Epist. lib. xi. 286 HABITS OF BIRDS. \iyvfiv0o9 •) ; but Cinesias and Aldrovand think *' tuneful" a better rendering, inasmuch, says Aldro- vand, as " the whisper of the nightingale ought to be considered most melodious and delightful, not like the voice of dragons, which is justly termed hissing, bqt like the soothing sound of a breeze, softly blowing and sweetly murmuring among leaves f." This writer may perhaps have taken the hint of his sentiments from Scaliger, who (as nearly as we can render his description) represents the " birdlet gurgling canti- cles, and babbling from its breast on the murmuring bank J." Martial also calls it " a garrulous bird §, and Strozius talks of its " chattering song||." Amongst the earliest notices of the nightingale we have met with, is one in the Odyssey %. As when the months are clad in flowery green, Sad Philomel in bowery shades unseen — • ••••• Now doom'd a wakeful bir4 to wail the beauteous boy, So in nocturnal solitude forlorn, A sad variety of woes I mourn. Pops. Euripides alludes to the great variety of the song of this bird when he makes Hecuba exhort Polixena to vary her voice like the nightingale (w t* 'Allows ffjofia*^). Hesiod had the same notion when he applies to the nightingale the epithet of " various- throated" (9roi*i\ooeip0ft)tand Oppian, who calls it " various-voiced" (atoAo^wi^ \\). But by far the greater number of the poetical authorities, both ancient and modern, agree, as we * In Avibui. f Aldrovand, Ornitholoegia, ii. 340. X Hive gutturillo Lusoinilla cantillans Hinc murmurante ripa garriens sinu. $ Flet Philomela nefas incesli Tereos, et quae Ifuta puella fuit, garrula fertur avis. || Integral Garrula vicinis carmen Philomela sub umbris.— fait, lib. i. ' HT.$20 T ** Hecuba, act. 2. ft 'E^ym x*t 'Hfc^eu, 201. tl Halieut. i. 728. SONGS, 287 have said, in representing the nightingale's song as mournful and plaintive* Thus Sophocles, in his ' Ajax Flagellifer/ refers to it as an image of vocifer- ous sorrow*, and in his 'Electra' he calls it the " querulous nightingale." Petrarch again mentions its " lamenting f," and Tasso its " deploring 1 ' (EV usignuol che plora). These poets, no doubt, were biassed by their classical recollections, since from Homer and Hesiod to Virgil, Ovid, and down to the "lamenting her hapless hymeneeals" (plorans infelices hymtn(Bos\ ) of Baptlsta, the Mantuan, most, if not all, the poets of the south of Europe have sung in the same strain, in which they have been followed by those of our own country. Thomson, for in- stance, has " All abandoned to despair, she sings Her sorrows through the night." Coleridge, however, in some well-known lines on this bird, has given a very different character of its song; exclaiming — " A melancholy bird ? Oh ! idle thought— In nature there is nothing melancholy. But some night-wandering man, whose heart was pierced With the remembrance of a grievous wrong, Or slow distemper, or neglected love, (And so, poor wretch ! fill'd all things with himself*, And made all gentle sounds tell back the tale Of his own sorrow,) he, and such as he, First named these notes a melancholy strain, And many a poet echoes the conceit* ' We have learnt A different tore : we may not thus profane Nature's sweet voices, always full of love And joyance ! 'Tis the merry nightingale * Ajax Flag. v. 630, *. v. X. f E'l Roscignuol, che dolcemente a Fombra Tutte le notti si lamenta, e piagne. 288 HABITS 0* BIRDS. i i That crowds and hurries and precipitates With fast thick warble his delicious notes, • As he were fearful that au April night < Would be too short for him to utter forth His love chauot, and disburthen his full soul Of all its music ! * * * * * • Far and near In wood and thicket over the wide grove They answer and provoke each other's songs, With skirmish and capricious passagings, And murmurs musical, and swift jug, jug, And one low piping sound more sweet than all, Stirring the air with such au harmony, That should you close your eyes you might almost Forget it was not day*." Chaucer, too, in his poem of the Flower and Leaf, says — " The nightingale with so mery a note Answered him, that all the wood yrong, &c. w But it may be doubted if the epithet merry here is to be taken exactly in the modern sense, any more than it is in the old expression " My merry men," in the address of a chief to his followers, or in the common phrase Merry England, where it appears to mean rather renowned or famous, than that we now call merry. Dryden, in his paraphrase of the Flower and Leaf, renders the above lines ; " The nightingale replied; So sweet, so shrill, so variously she sung, That the grove echoed and the valleys rung." Considering this song merely as a piece of music, there can be no doubt that both the views that have thus been taken of it by the poets may be supr ported, though the following description, by the Abbe' La Pluche, is nearer the truth than either. " The nightingale," he says, " passes from grave to gay ; from a simple song to a warble the most varied ; * The Nightingale, written in April 1798. SONGS. 289 and from the softest trillings and swells to languish- ing and lamentable sighs, which he as quickly abandons, to return to his natural sprightliness*." But leaving the musical character of this song out of consideration, it must be regarded as uniformly the produce of a joyous and sportive state of feeling. No bird sings when sad ; for, though they can utter sounds of sorrow when robbed of their nests or their young, they never sing in such cases, as incorrectly represented to do by Virgil, when he says— * it Complaining in melodious moans, Sweet Philomel, beneath a poplar shade, Mourns her lost young, which some rude village hind Observing, from their nest unfledged has stole : All night, she weeps, and, perch'd upon a bough, With plaintive notes repeated fills the grove f ." — Trapp. This error, indeed, was exposed more than two thousand years ago by Plato, who says justly, " No- body can dream that any bird will sing when it is hungry, when it is cold, or when it is afflicted with any other pain, not even the nightingale itself, which is said to sjng from grief J." Albertus Magnus too seems to have had a glimpse of the true state of the case. In opposition to Aristotle, who says, " The nightingale ceases to sing during incubation §," Albertus asserts that it does " sing while it is hatching;" and certain Platonists, he remarks, maintain that it cannot vivify the eggs without singing, "which," adds the naturalist, " appears to be true ; for the soft air and warmth elevating the temperature of the blood in these birds, stirs up in them the joyousness of song and the desire of rejoicing, the heat of the parent being higher during hatching than at any other period ||." * Spectacle de'la Nature, i. 156. t Oeorg. iv. 511 . { Phaedo. $ Hist. Auim. y. 9. H Hist. Anion, tpud Aldrovand, ii. 343. 2c 29* HABIT* *t &RD9. Chapter XVI. SONG Or BIRDS CONTINtJED. Looking to the musical character of the songs of birds, without reference to the feelings of joy or of rivalry which seem to us at least to prompt them to sing, some authors have exerted their ingenuity m drawing U p comparative tables of the several qualities exhibited by various species. These tables appear to us more curious than accurate ; but we praseat the following aa a sample. Comparative Table of the Excellence of British Song Birds — 20 being the point of Perfection. By the Bon. Daines Harrington, and Patrick Syme, Esq. The letters B. and S. mark the names Of these two authors. MaUro- tag*** Plate- Com* Batou pttm- wbt*. BnfeM. ftTen«B. put. Ante, tfaa. ***•*«.< {% \i \l i? if » t SVtUtV r 4 ISf 4 IS W ♦> "J"". -t S IS 4 IS 19 J8 WoaUark 4 M io 1ft 14 14 14 -* Tlti** , rM IS 18 13 IS •: *• pwidUrti..^ „... < ie s io is s a. Bullfinch 4 6 6 6 6 5 S. <«"■* {• IS- S X I W 6 f n.An.1. f 4 IS 4 8 8 •' f. <*-*"* {J J S e « 'i *: Hedg*S|terr6W {J 5 a J 3 *$ * Sisken, or Aberdevine.. | 34 4 4 ♦• B. Bedpole ' 4 4 4 ♦• A. »■*>**.: u i § if » ■ t. #wo««.MiMM^f*»#<"liJ e ft 18 8 & S6w<**. %%\ Mellow* Suteht- Plain- Com* Execu* Dm*- nesa. frfes. tireneu. pa*, tlon. tion. ■-«*«»• { i T • II "i B 8 : »♦*«•• m i % u li s i Wr*n . /•Uf4 4"B. wren ••••*»>**••**>*? j. 1 § f 4 £ 4 s Greater Pettr«b»p<,».,,* 10 If H 14 14 12 8*. Redstart.,..,.,..,,..,, 6 t | 19 10 6 8. WillowrWwa ,.,., t I 19 19 JjO 7 S. Golden crestpd Wrea,,.. 9 § 9 6 6 5 S. SedteWufefer.,.,.,.,.. ##94458. Solitary TWh,.,,.,.., If 4 19 1« 14) If S. Missel Thntffc,,, ,,,,.,. 18 4 10 10 « 10 8. ™™*> » {4 I 4 il t • a Linnet ..,,,., f , f ,*l$ »' 19 i* 18 •• B. Grev Lionet ,,,.,,,,,,,. § If 4 16 16 |# 8. Red-b*e**tH I4»o#t | U 4 U 16 8 8. Twite or Mw ntt aSa U*-\ g jg 9 19 8 6 a YelloVfe*uil$ii*.V.V/M,» f 4 # 9 f 9 8. Lesser R«4taole.,,,.,.,. I 14 4 • 8*6 8. Greater ReApole „ t If fi 12 12 8 8. Canary ,4 19 4 19 19 16 8. Though birds of the same species very closely resemble each other in the general tenor of their song, individuals differ widely both in the introduc- tion of particular passages, the result probably of accidental acquirements, and in skill of execution, as well as in intonation, the latter peculiarities obvi- ously depending on physical varieties in their vocal organs, Wilson says he was so familiar with the notes of an individual wood-thrush (Twrduu melodut) that he could recognise him above his fellows the moment be entered the woods*. Mr. Knapp has the following excellent and ac- curate remarks on the same subject. " Birds," he says, " of one species sing, in general, very like each other, with different degrees of execution. Some counties may produce finer songsters, but without great variation in the notes. In the thrush, however, it is remarkable, that there seems to be no regular notes, each individual piping a voluntary of his L * Amer.Ornitti, HABITS OF BIRDS. own. Their voices mayalways be distinguished amid the choristers of the copse, yet some one performer will more particularly engage attention by a peculiar modulation or tone ; and should several stations of these birds be visited in the same morning, few or none, probably, will be found to preserve the same round of notes, whatever is uttered seeming the effusion of the moment. At times a strain will break out perfectly unlike any preceding utterance, and we may wait a long time without noticing any repetition of it. During one spring an individual song-thrush, frequenting a favourite copse, after a certain round of tune, trilled out, most regularly, some notes that conveyed so clearly the words, lady- bird ! lady-bird ! that every one remarked the re- semblance. He survived the winter, and in the ensuing spring, the lady-bird! lady-bird! was still the burden of our evening song ; it then ceased, and so***. '«3 we never heard this pretty modulation num. Though merely an occasional strain, yet I have noticed it etettwnere,«*~ilM. * SONGS. 297 dubious, Buffon has constructed thereupon one of his singular theories, which has now become esta- blished as part of the popular and the poetical creed. " Sweetness of voice," says he, " and melody of song are qualities, which in birds are partly natu- ral, partly acquired. Their great facility in catching and repeating sounds enables them not only to borrow from each other, but often to copy the inflexions and tones of the human voice, and of our musical instruments. Is it not singular, that in all populous and civilized countries, most of the birds chant delightful airs, while in the extensive deserts of Africa and America, inhabited by roving savages, the winged tribes utter only harsh and discordant cries, and but a few species have any claim to me- s lody? Must this difference be imputed to the difference of climate alone ? The extremes of cold aud heat operate, indeed, great changes on the nature of animals, and often form externally permanent characters and vivid colours. The quadrupeds, of which the garb is variegated, spotted, or striped, such as the panthers, the leopards, the zebras, and the civets, are all natives of the hottest climates. All the birds of the tropical regions sparkle with the most glowing tints, while those of the temperate countries are stained with lighter and softer shades. Of the three hundred species, that may be reckoned belonging to our climates, the peacock, the common cock, the golden oriole, the king-fisher, and the gold- finch, only can be celebrated for the variety of their colours ; but nature would seem to have exhausted all the rich hues of the universe on the plumage of the birds of America, of Africa, and of India. These quadrupeds, clothed in the most splendid robes, — these birds, attired in the richest plumage, utter at the same time coarse, grating, or even terrible cries. Climate has, no doubt, a principal share in t*8 HABITS 09 BIRDS. this phenomenon ; but dots not the rakenoe of contribute also to the effect*?" Goldsmith gives * very different turn to the matter, denying, in feet, that gong-birds are found in wild places, Speaking of small birds, he says, " as they are the favourites of man, so they are chiefly seen near him. All the great birds dread bis vicinity, and keep to the thickest darkness of the forest, or the brow of the most craggy precipice ; but these seldom resort to the thicker parts of the wood ; they keep near its edges, in the neighbourhood of cultivated fields, in the hedge-rows of farm-grounds, and even in the yard, mixing with the poultry* It must be owned, indeed, that their living near man is not a. society of affection on their part, as they approach inhabited grounds merely because their chief pro- vision is to be found there. In the depth of the desert, or the gloom of the forest, there is no grata to be picked up ; none of those tender buds that are so grateful to their appetites; insects themselves, that make so great a part of their food, are not found there in abundance, their natures being un- suited to the moisture of the place. As We enter, therefore, deeper into uncultivated woods, the silence becomes more profound ; everything carries the look of awful stillness ; there are none of those warblings, none of those murmurs that awaken attention, as near the habitations of men; there is nothing of that confuted buzz, formed by the united, though distant, voices of quadrupeds and birds ; bat all is profoundly dead and solemn. Now and then, indeed, the tra- veller may be roused from this lethargy of life, by the voice of a heron, or the scream of an eagle ; but his sweet little friendB and warblers have totally for- saken him. There is still another reason for these little birds avoiding the depths of the forest ; which is, that thejr most formidable enemies are usually * Wood's Buffon, xi. 14. then. Tin greater birds, lifce robbers, choose the most dreary solitude for their retreats ; and, if they do not find, they make a desert all around them. The small birds fly from their tyranny, and take protection in- the vicinity of man, where they know their more unmerciful foes will not ventura to pursue them*." Understanding this to be laid down as a general principle, it is far from being consistent with fact i though it is partially true, as we shall elsewhere en- deavour to show, that birds often follow the tract of cultivation. In the pine forests of Hudson's Bay, oae of the wildcat and most deserted places whieh could ba mentioned, the pine grosbeak (Pyrthuta 300 HABITS OF BIRDS. Enuclmtor, Temminck) is said to enliven the summer nights with its song * ; and the same bird is found in the no less unfrequented forests of Siberia and Lapland f. Captain Cook, when off the coast of New Zealand, says, " We were charmed the whole night with the songs of innumerable species of birds from the woods which beautify the shores of this unfrequented island J." With respect to the popular notion founded on the theoretical reasoning of Bufibn, in the passage just quoted, M. Vaillant justly remarks, " It is quite a prejudice that the birds of warm climates are more brilliant than ours, — witness our king-fisher and jay ; or that they do not sing ; for the song-birds, both in Africa and America, equal, and often surpass, our European birds §." The traveller, Bruce, also tells us that the song of the lark, in Abyssinia, did not appear to differ from that of the European larks ; and M. Savigny, as we have already mentioned, heard the white-throat singing in Egypt. All the oriental poets, indeed, introduce the music of the groves as an indispensable accompaniment in their finest de- scriptions. King Solomon says, •* The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land || ;" and the naturalist, Hasel- quist, found nightingales in Palestine, as M. Le Marie had done in Africa. The Persian poet, Hafiz, also, as well as the author of the ' Ramayuna,' and the Hindoo dramatist who wrote * Sacontala,' are loud in their praises of the music of birds ; while in the Koran and the Arabian Tales they are often mentioned^. * Pennant, Arct. Zoo). f Latham, iti. 3. % Voyages, i. § Oiseaux de Paradise, i. 81. || Cant; ii. 12". 4 J. Rennie on the Singing of Birds, Edlhb. Mag. Jan, 1819, p. 13. WONGS. 381 In speaking of the wood-thrush (Turdns melodus) of America, Wilson indignantly repels the assertions of Buffon, who represents this bird as destitute of any note but a single scream, and hence draws an argument for his absurd theory of its being the song-thrush of Europe, degenerated by food and climate, so that its cry is now harsh and unpleasant, as are, he says, the cries of all birds that live in wild countries, inhabited by savages. Wilson's de- scription of the song of this bird is well worth giving. " This sweet and solitary songster," he says, " inhabits the whole of North America, from Hudson's Bay to the Peninsula of Florida. He arrives in Pennsylvania about the 20th of April, or soon after, and returns to the South about the beginning of October. But at whatever time the wood-thrush may arrive, he soon - announces his presence in the woods. With the dawn of the succeeding morning, mounting to the top of some tall tree, that rises from' a low thick- shaded part of the woods, he pipes his few but clear and musical - notes in a kind of ec&tacy; the prelude or symphony to which strongly resembles the double-tongueing of a German flute, and sometimes the tinkling of a small bell; the whole song consists. of five or six parts, the last, note of each of which is in such a tone as to leave the conclusion evidently suspended ; the finale is finely managed, and with such charming effect, as to soothe and tranquillize the mind, and. to seem sweeter and mellower at each 'successive repetition. Rival songsters, of the same species, challenge each other from different parts of the wood, seeming to vie for softer tones and more exquisite < responses. During the burning heat of the day they are comparatively mute ; but in the evening the same melody is renewed and continued long after sunset. Those who visit our woods, or ride out into the country at these hours, during the months of May 2d 3#8 HABITS Off MRDS. and Jan* wilt be at' no lofts to fec^niee* fforti the above description, thia pleasing musician. Evet* i* • dark, wet, and gloomy weather, when scarce a single chirp is heard from any other bird, the clear notes of the wood*thrush thrill through the dropping wood* from morning to night; and it may truly be said that the sadder the day the sweeter is hi* song *♦" There are upwards of twenty other Ainerie4.iv bird* which Wilson characterises in the same graphic? manner, such as the brown thrush (T. tufus), whose song is emphatic*, full of variety* and so loud that in a serene morning , when the wind is hashed aad before " the busy hum etf* men" begins, hie voice may be distinguished at the distance* of half a mite} the migratory thrush (T* migtatariu&y, who is an early songster* frequently cttmmenefog before the- anew has disappeared, and perching 011 a stake or fence, to begin the prelude to the general concert; the) Baltimore oriole (Oviolus BMiftmrw\ whose not** constat ©fa clear mellow whistle, repeated at sfctfrt intervals as he gleams among the branches, charac- terised by a certain wild pkiativeness and interesting' simplicity* like that of a careless* ptougfeboy Whistling* for amusement, and that even among the poplars ©f the America* streets, amidst the din of eeatfhcte, and wheelbarrows, and the bawling of oyster-wwnt* *-*•* the Virginian nightingale (Locria cardinally), wha sings from March till September with great clear- ness, melody,, vivacity, variety, and aprightlinesa, many of his notes being as loud as thdse of a fife ; add the song sparrow (FfmgUla m#kda) f by far th* earliest, the most unwearied, aad sweetest of the/ American song-birds, whose notes resemble the beginning of the canary's song. But we may men- turn another instance still more adverse ta the theory, that* namely, of the rke-bwd (Embefiz* ar$Mv&r*) f * Afcef ««**{&, i, 99+ '.. flOtfflU. 308 which « found not only ia Uiemoretemperate latitude*, but in Jamaica, and, we believe, other tropical locali- ties. Hi* song is highly musical, and mounting and hovering on the wing", at a amall height above ground, lie chaunts out a jingling melody of varied notes, as if half a dozen birds were singing together. Some idea may be formed of it, by striking the high keys of a ptano-forta singly and quickly, making as many contrasts as possible of high and low notes. Many of the tones are delightful, but the ear can with difficulty separate them. The general effect of the whole is good ; and when ten or twelve are singing on the same tree, the concert is singularly pleasing. These examples we think conclusive -against the theory, that there are none or only inferior song-birds in the forests of America *. Wf know less of the African birds, except those yt Egypt and the Cape 1 «f Good flfope ; but we have the high authority of M. Viaillant, already quoted* for 1 the general fact, ihat they do aiag we}) ; and another distinguished French naturalist, M. Vieillot, has Written an entire and splendid work on the ' Sing- ling Biro's of the Tropioet*' Q** o? &• African birds (Emberiza parddhea) is well known from befog frequently tmt to Europe ; and though it can- not vie with our nightingale and thrush, its warble is delightful, resembling, in some degree, that of yottr #waHow* but mtMfe ahrrH and elfar J. $inoe birds eiag in a pitch so irregular and with Jnterals so unsettled, exhibiting & total disregard to measure or rhythm, we may well ask, what make's their musid pleasing? The cause has been traced * See J; Rami? •& American fong Birds, Mai. of Mat. iHiitf, 414* - + Hht. N«ft»4es &»\ Ok. CUwm4«tirs de la &m« TorritJe, fol. Paris, 1805. 304 HABITS OF BIRDS. to association, for they seldom sing but in fine wea- ther and when pleased ; and, for the latter reason, even the sostenuto purring of the cat is not unpleas- ing. The variety and rapidity of their notes and intonation also awaken attention, and the contrast in their song between rapid flights of double-demi- semi-quavers and lengthened and sweet minims, is often wonderful ; as in the case of the soft and sus- tained notes of the nightingale, succeeded by a short and expressive passage of quicker sound. It is, no doubt, too much to say that we have borrowed all our music from birds, but some of it may, without much stretch of fancy, be considered as having been stolen from that source; for example, the follow- ing * :— Flageolet • New Monthly Mag. April, 1823. flft&w&V* )«5 >A*emdto% i6 lir. Mttfard, «€h* " Yet this has not been the case, for some of them enter into the discussion with great minuteness. ./Elian, indeed, appears to waver in his opinion ac- cording to the book he last read, in one place appear- ing to deny it, because nobody had heard swans sing J, and in another agreeing with Aristotle and Hecataeus§. Oppian, again, who is very copious in his accounts of the songs of birds, says, " They sing at the dawn before the rising of the sun, as if to be heard more clearly through the still air. They also sing on the sea beach, unless prevented by the sound of storms and boisterous weather, which would not permit them to enjoy the music of their own songs. Even in old age, when about to die, they do not forget their songs, though these are then more feeble than in youth, because they cannot so well erect their necks and expand their wings. They are * Iliad, 0. f Hist. Nat. x. 23. t Hist Var. i. § De Anim. xx. 30, and xi. 1. 910 HABKHtV BIRDS. ferreted to fling by Fawmius* e*d as their limbs be- -come sluggish, and their members d efta eat fca strength when death approaches, they withdraw to ansae place where no bird may hear them aing, and «o other swans impelled by the same cause may in- terrupt their Tequiem *." Julius ftcahger, agreeing with Pliny* vituperates Cardan lor lauding the nonsense of the poets, and ■the mendacity, as he terms it, of the Greeks about the flinging of the swanf; while Aldrevand, more philo- sophically, refers us to the structure of the organs of voice (before described J), as countenancing the poetical creed ; for when we observe, he says, the great rariety of modulation which can be produced from a military trumpet, and, going upon the axiom that nature does nothing in Vain, compare the form of such a trumpet with the more ingenious mechan- ism of the swan's windpipe, we oannot but conclude that this instrument is at least capable of producing jfche sounds which haw been described by the ancient authors. He accordingly proceeds to corroborate this theory by the testimony of those who have actually heard swans singing. Amongst others, one Frederieo Pendasio, a celebrated professor of philoso- phy and a person worthy of credit, told him he had frequently heard swans singing melodiously while he was sailing on the Maatuan lake. He also says that, according io one George Bvavn (Erown), the swans near London sung festal songs §. Antonius Musa Braeavoius further affirms, that he had him- self observed them singing when near death fl. The author of the ' Physics Curiossa/ however, says, " I have been in many places where swans abound, but InHalieut t Exercit. 232. J Page 248. f Ornithelogfa, iii. 9. , fl Cotatfraat. «d Eorphyr. Isago£. SOU**. $11 I never conld hear them sing, net hewe I seen airy body who has*/' If. Moiubeilkrd, adopting tile nteMble notion* thai the wild and th« tame swan are the same species,. says, u Though the swan is a silent bird, its vecel oegana have the same structure a* in the meet loquacious of water-fowl; yet the ordinary vote of the tame swan is rather low than canorous* being a soft of creaking, exactly like what is popularly termed the swearing of a, cat, and which the Roman*' denoted by the imitative word drmsare-f. Tbie woold seem to be the accent of menace or engery see does love appear to have a softer. Swans- almost ■rate, hike ours in a domestic state, ooufcb not be> these melodious birds which have been* to muek celebrated. But the wild swan appears to he** better preserved it* prerogatives, and with the s*ntl«* meat of entire liberty, it has* alee n* tones* The bursts of its voice form a sort of modulated sone> yet the shrill and scarcely diversified notes of it* leud) clarion sounds diner widely froth the tender mttodyy the sweet brilhaai variety ef our birds of song}*" Whei» swans ftgkf, Athertue Magnus saiy* they his* and emit a sort ef boeabitatioa not unlike the braying of an ass, but not so much prolonged §. Aristophanes, in his comedy of the Birds, expresses' the sounds by JUh Tie, Tie, Tins, M. Grotivetie says, "Their voice, in the season of pairing, more resembles a murmur than any sort of seftg," a eenclnsion skmHsr. to thee of M. Merin, in his memoir entitled, " Why svrane which snag so well in ancient times now sing so* badly H ," If * GrouveUe adds* " There iw a* saasot* * P. 117Q. t Grus gruat, in^ue glomia cygni prope flumina drentaut.—* Oitt>: t Oteaa*, Ait. Le Cifeiic. & Histv Anint. . I) Meet, de TAcad, telatclMtt* 312 HABITS Or BIRDS. when the swans assemble together; and for«* a» sort of commonwealth ; it is during severe -colds. When the frost threatens to usurp their domain, they con- gregate and dash the water with all the extent of their wings, making a noise which is heard very far* and which, whether in the day or in the night, is louder in proportion to the intensity of the frost. Their efforts are so effectual, that there are f&f instances of a flock of swans having quitted the water in the longest frosts ; though a single swan which has strayed from the general body has sometimes been arrested by the ice in. the middle of the canals." We shall close the subject. with the very minute observations of the AbW Arnaud, derived from his own experience. " One can hardly say,'' the Abbtf remarks, " that the swans of Chantilly sing : . they >cry ; but their cries are truly and constantly modulated : their voice is not sweet ; on the contrary, it is shrill, piercing, and rather disagreeable; I could compare it to nothing better than the sound of a clarionet winded by a person unacquainted with the instrument. Almost all the melodious. birds answer to the song of man* and especially to the sound of instruments : I played long on the violin beside our swans, on all the tones and chords ; I even struck unison to their own accents without their seeming to pay the smallest attention ; but if a goose be thrown into the basin where they swim with their young, the male, after emitting some hollow sounds* rushes impetuously upon the goose, and seizing it by the. neck, he plunges the head repeatedly under water, striking it at. the same time with his wings ; it would be all over with the goose, if it were not rescued. The swan, with his wings expanded, his neck stretched, and his head erect, comes to place himself opposite to his female, . and utters a cry to. which the female replies by.aar other, which is lower by half a tone* The voice of SONGS, 319 the male passes from A (la) to B flat (si bemol) ; tbat of the female, from G sharp (sol diese) to A. The first note is short and transient, and has the effect which our musicians call sensible ; so that it is not detached from the second, but seems to slip into it Observe that, fortunately for the ear, they do not both sing at once ; in fact, if while the male sounded B flat, the female struck A, or if the male uttered A, while the female gave G sharp, there would result the harshest and most insupportable of discords. We may add, that this dialogue is subjected to a constant and regular rhythm, with the measure of two times. 'The 'inspector assured me that, during their amours, these birds have a cry still sharper, but much more agreeable *." With respect to birds singing at night, it is a great mistake to suppose the nightingale to be the only night songster, because it is the loudest and finest. By the quotation given above from Captain Cook, it appears that in New Zealand several birds sing all night, and in America the mock-bird sings as finely at night as during the day. In England the most remarkable night-singers, after the nightingale, are the sedge-bird (Curruca salicaria y Fleming), and the dipper (Cinclus aquaticus, Bechstein). Every summer for many years we have observed the sedge- bird hurrying over its singular medley at all hours of Hie night, particularly by moonlight; and it seems peculiar to this bird, that it will sing the louder when a stone is thrown into the bush where it is singing, an experiment we have 1 often tried, and usually with the same result. The dipper, we have no doubt, commonly sings during the night, but from the secluded streams which it frequents,: it is seldom heard ; though we have more than once heard it by accident on the river Ayr, and in the autumn of 1881 • Wood's Brfb«, xix. 511, note. 2e 304 HABIT* W KRDS. we listened to one for a aottsidenMe time singing is* finest note* two ham* after sunset on the romaaft** banks of the Devon* neat) ike ItamHinfg £bidge»ii» Glaikmanaanshirfe Our other night amg-binfat sent* only to sing tieoat* sionally, not regularly* such as the skylark, the red*- stsa% and the red*breast. Among larger birds Hot usually reckoned song-birds, which emit their pecu* list call-notes in the night, tee may enumerate; the quaH, the corncrake, the partridge* the* grouse* as** more particularly the eoekv . We have remarked that some species of Qage»bi*da will' readily sing at nighl) when the candle* are Ik* white othess will not eingr a note* The* htaek-cejfe for example, mentioned in a former page, ha* neve* attempted to sing at night above* onee or Urffce; while Ask Snweet found his redstart sing: every night* as we/ find to he 1 the ease with our red-breasta When aj redVbfeasfe had hee* Bseeutly caught* indeed, h*» neve* attempts to sing dotting the- day, and always* essays hi» first cage-song, after dark* venturing; by degrees, to extend his) voice* before he try it in* open* day. We have had bird* of this speeies who would* stag in this mannas every night for sevefrat wueksy without sieging a note during the day* At, present (January) we have a bird of this kind which seldom, begins before eight o'clock at night, after another in * neighbouring cage* which sings equally through the day and aftec dash, has finished singling for the evening*. It may be remarked also, that in cage4wrds, though they will sometimes break out into their loudest note* at night, their song is for the moat part soft, subdued* and warbling ; such is the case at least with our red- breasts, and an aberdevine near. them. Canaries" and' blackbirds* however, usually sing aloud at night* the nightingale, so for as we have remarked, always. We have, however, heard some of these night songs, which were manifestly uttered while the bird was asleep, in the same way as we sometimes talk during sleep — a circumstance remarked by Dryden, who says, " The Tittle birds in dreams their songs repeat *," We turn evan ebseratd this In a wild bird. On the wgfet of the 6th April, 1611, about ten o'clock, a dvnnocfc (Accentor modtUmm) was beard in a gar- den to go through kg usual eoag more than a dozen times wry feindy, but distinctly enough for the -spaeies to be recognised. The ttight was cold and ftoety $ but might it not be that the little musician •was dreaming of sammer aud sunshine f? Aris- totle, indeed, propose* the question, whether animals hatched from eggs ever dream J. MarcgraW in re- ^ply expressly says that hie "parrot, Laura, often rose In the night end prattled while half asleep §." * Jndian Emperor, t J. Rennie on the Sinking of Birds, Edinb. Mag. Jan. 1819, p. 14. % Hurt. Ai4«. v. Lft. $ ««t JUcam Nat. WWWWWW WIli I I «I J* 316 HABITS OF -BIRDS, Chapter XVII. : . IMITATION AND MIMICRY OF .BIROS. > " Mimicry," says Lord Chesterfield, " which is the common and favourite amusement of. little, i low minds, is in the utmost contempt with great ones. It is the lowest and most illiberal of all buffoonery ; we should neither practise it, .nor applaud it in others *." Yet, in despite of his lordship's autho- rity, mimicry and imitation are and will.be practised, and relished and applauded, so long as men con- tinue to receive pleasure from exercising their minds in making comparisons ; for this exercise is always pleasing in proportion to the activity of mind, or the flow of associated ideas thereby produced — perhaps the true origin indeed of all our mental pleasures. All this may be true so far as it goes — but jtbe pleasure of making comparisons is only a particular instance of the pleasure we have in perceiving sin*** litude in dissimilitude — or sameness combined with variety ; and this is the true principle of the pheno- menon under consideration. If we hear a parrot utter an imitation of the words " Pretty Poll/' we immediately trace a series of resemblances or differences between the pronun- ciation of the words by the parrot and by a man; and if the bird comes near the sound, we are pleased in tracing the resemblance, while we admire the successfulness of the effort in accomplishing what might be previously supposed a difficult task for a bird — the overcoming of any difficulty having * Letters, vol. ii. IMITAYMm AND MIMICRY. $17 always the effect of exciting proportional admiration* from the sympathy of the passive spectator with tba active agent, who feels his incapability of executing the same feat in all its particulars. A story is told of Goldsmith, that having gone with Johnson and Burke to act an exhibition of puppets, his vanity was hurt at their praising the agility displayed by the figures, which, with cha* racterittic simplicity, he volunteered to equal, and began accordingly, in good earnest/ to skip over the chairs in the room, without reflecting that it was not exactly the agility that had pleased them, and drawn forth their admiration, but the imitation of living actions, producing in their minds a train of com* ^arisen between the puppets and the motions of the animals imitated. < The truth of these views appears to be proved by the fact, that when the imitation is so perfect as to amount to a belief of its identity with what is imi* sated, no pleasure is produced by an observer, in consequence of his mind not being exalted to instil tote a train of comparisons. In the case of the parrot, when the words are heard while the bird is unseed, the articulation never so nearly imitates hu*> ntanity as to prevent the hearer from immediately recognising the voice to be that of a bird ; but were the imitation perfect (supposing the bird still un- sssni), instead of a hearer going into a comparison respecting the imitation, he would immediately infer that the words M Pretty Poll'* were uttered by some person ca)Hng to a parrot, rather than suppose them to be uttered by a bird. We recollect an instance of a starting, whieh had been taught by an Ayrshire hairdresser to repeat the words " Get up, Sir,' 1 with surprising aorreetnes* of articulation. The tone of *oiee was husky and whispering, and the first tin* we hoard it front the bird, hanging in a dark 2e3 318 HABITS OP BIRDS. J corner of the shop, we could not imagine whence th\£ • words proceeded, and were led to fancy that it might 1 ' be some idiot boy repeating, as is common m such 7 cases, his favourite phrase ; but no sooner did weV learn the truth, than the correctness of the execution became a matter of comparison and of wonder*. l But whatever may be the cause of the pleasure we take in hearing such imitations by birds, both of* the sounds of one another and of animals of a differ rent order, they are in many cases possessed of considerable interest. Except, however, in instances similar to those mentioned in a former chapter, we are very much disposed to doubt the current opinion" respecting the mocking or mimicry of wild-birds;' In Kent, Norfolk, and some other parts of England; the black- cap and thefauvette (Philomela hortensisy are both called the mock nightingale, under the notion, probably, of their imitating its song ; but no person who is well acquainted with the nightin- gale's song could for a moment suppose the notes! of either of these two birds to be an imitation of ity though they are both delightful songsters,- and one of each species, at the time we write this, is trying to excel the other, in the garden opposite to our study. The black-cap indeed, and the fauvette, sing liker to each other than to the nightingale, and have one or. two notes in common, though we cannot see any reason to conclude that these notes were reciprocally borrowed ; any more than the com- mon notes which may be observed in the several songs of the fauvette, the white-throat, and the babillard (Curruea garrula, Brisson). Another native bird, the sedge-bird (Rip&cola urticaria), is represented by most of our naturalists as a genuine mock-bird. " The artificial notes,* 9 it has been remarked, ** which wild birds acquire by imitation, are seldom altogether perfect, and may, in *J.R. IMITATION AND MIMIORV. 319 most cases, he. recognised as imitations. This re- mark,^ cpnfirmed by the fact, that mock- birds, W/higb may be, considered as having no natural song oij.thejar, own, cannot go' through with any set of notes, without introducing tones foreign. to the notes they are, imitating. The inock-bird of this country" (Ripacola $alicaria}, "whose retired habits cause it, to be but little attended to, may be heard hurrying over in succession the song of the wren, wagtail, and > sky- lark, the* twitter of the swallow, and the chirp of the sparrow and the chaffinch ; but it often introduces a deep. harsh note, which belongs to no Other native bird, though it has a distant resemblance to the chirr of the white-throat. Indeed, the mock* bjrd, both in its size . a.nd colour as well as in its habits, is so like the white-throat as to be often con- founded with it*." ..Now though we are willing to admit that there is considerable plausibility in this view of the matter, yet, the, circumstances appear susceptible of an ex- planation more likely, we think, to be true. From the sedge-bird frequenting the solitary banks of weedy streams and ditches, it can have few oppor- tunities of hearing the notes of the chimney-swallow, and much less of the house-sparrow, even supposing' it disposed to learn them. And among some hun- dreds of these birds which we have listened to in the most varied situations in the three kingdoms, all seemed to have very nearly the same notes, repeated ill the same orderf; a fact which appears to us to be fatal to the inference of the notes being derived, not from one, but a number of other birds. For if this were so* it is not possible that these imitated notes should all follow in exactly or very nearly the same order in the song of each individual imitator in different and distant parts of the country. The *&m.Mag.,Jto.l819 r p.lO. fJ.R 990 HABITS Of BIRDS. doee similarity of the notes to (host fllh g w d to fc* imitated caanoi be denied ; but taking all the dru cumatances into account, we think it much mors 7 probable that these resembling notes are original tt> the sedge-bird, and that we might, with equal jus- tice, accuse the swallow and the sky-lark of borrow- ing from it. There are several American birds, however, much more celebrated as mockers or imitators than our little sedge-bird. We shall only particularize three, the polyglot-chat, the blue-jay, and the bird univer- sally designated the mocking-bird. The polyglot-chat (Pipra polyglat.ta. Wh.soh) was first observed and figured by Catesby, who discovered its singular manners by the difficulty he IMITATION AND MIMICRY. 321 had in shooting one. He observed also that it is no less adroit at dancing, than in the varied modula- tions of its voice. It is, says Wilson, in a highly characteristic sketch, " a very singular bird. In its voice and manners, and the habit it has of keeping concealed while shifting and]vociferating around you, it differs from most other birds with which I am acquainted, and has considerable claims to origin- ality of character. It arrives in Pennsylvania about the first week in May; its term of residence here being scarcely four months. When he has once taken up his residence in a favourite situation, which is almost always in close thickets of hazel, brambles, vines, and thick underwood, he becomes jealous of his possessions, and seems offended at the least in- trusion ; scolding every passenger as soon as they come in view, in a great variety of odd and uncouth monosyllables, which it is difficult to describe, but which may be readily imitated so as to deceive the bird himself, and draw him after you for a quarter of a 'mile at a time, as I have sometimes amused myself in doing, and frequently without once seeing him. On these occasions his responses are constant and rapid, strongly expressive of anger and anxiety ; and while the bird itself remains unseen, the voice shifts from place to place, among the bushes, as if it pro- ceeded from a spirit. First are heard a repetition of short notes, resembling the whistling of the wings of a duck or teal, beginning loud and rapid, and falling lower and slower till they end in detached notes ; then a succession of others, something like the bark- ing of young puppies, is followed by a variety of hollow guttural sounds, each eight or ten times repeated, more like those proceeding from the throat of a quadruped than that of a bird ; which are suc- ceeded by others not unlike the mewing of a cat, but considerably hoarser. All . these are uttered with great vehemence, in such different keys, and with Ml HMMM O* MftDS. such peculiar modulations of voice, m sossetinies'so stem at a considerable distance, and instantly as if just beside you $ now on this hand* now on that ; a© that from these manoeuvres of ventriloquism, you are Utterly at a loss to ascertain from what partkuilar spot or quarter they proceed. If the weather fee mild and serene, with clear moonlight, he continues gabbling in the same strange dialect, with very little intermission during the whole night, as if disputing- with his own echoes ; but probably with a design of inviting the passing females to his retreat, for when the season is further advanced they are seldom heasd during the night. ** While the female chat is sitting, the cries of the -male are still more loud and incessant When once aware that you have seen him, he is less solicitous to conceal himself, and will sometimes mount up into the air, almost perpendicularly, to the height of thirty or forty feet, with his legs hanging ; descending, as he rose, by repeated jerks, as if highly irritated, or, as is vulgarly said, ' dancing mad/ All this noise and gesticulation we must attribute to his extreme affec- tion for his mate and young ; and when we consider the great distance which in ail probability he comes, the few young produced at a time, and that seldom more than once in the season, we can see the wisdom of Providence very manifestly in the ardency of his passions V We have introduced this description more te show the variety of note and voice which actually occurs in a bird, than as exhibiting an instance even of alleged imitation ; for though it is said some of the sounds uttered by the polyglot-chat are " something like the barking of young puppies/' and " others not unlike the mewing of a cat," it is not averred, as it is in the case of the bird called the mocking-bird, that these sounds are derived from imitation. *Am.Onutb.i.*2. IMlTAtfWUt AM> «m«RY. 393 Wa hste elsewhere taken neticfeof some intetesting peculiarities in the American blute'^ay* (Oarrubu oru^ttt, Bkisson), and shaft now advert to what it said: of its powers of imitation and mimicry. '* In the charming season of spring," says Wilson,. '* when every thicket pours forth harmony, the part performed by the jay always catches the ear. He appears to he, among his fellow-musicians, what the tttrmpeter is is a band, some of his notes having no distant resemblance to the tones of that instalment* Thns he has the faculty of ohenghag through a great variety of modulations, according to the particular humour he happens to be in. When disposed for ridicule, there is seared a bird whose peculiarities of song her cannot tame hi» notes to. When engaged m the blandishments of love; they resemble the soft diatterings of a duck, and while he nestles among the thick brandies of the cedar, are scarce heard at a few paces distance ; but ne sooner does he discover your approaohy than he sets up a sudden and vehe- ment cry, frying off* and screaming with all his might, as if he called the whole feathered tribes of the neighbourhood to witness some outrageous Usage he had received. When he hops* undisturbed among the htghf branches of the oak and hickory, thee become soft and mnsieaV; and his calls of the female *• stranger would readily mistake for the repeated creakings of an ungreased wheelbarrow. All these he accompanies with various nods, jerks, and other gesticulations, for which the whole tribe of jays are so remarkabki " He is not only bold and vociferous, but possesses a considerable talent for mimicry, and seems to enjoy great satisfaction in mocking and teasing other birds* particularly the- little hawk (FiUco sparverius)^ imitating his cry wherever he sees him, and squeal- ing out as if caught ; this soon> brings a number of * Arctut, of Blreika+ cation from man, he has not 'only- shown- himself an apt scholar, but his suavity of manners Beemscqnaltal only by his art and contrivances, though; it -music fan confessed that his .itch for thieving keeps .paoej wjtb all his other acquirements*^ Dr. Mease, :on. tfcte authority of Colonel Postell, of South GaraUoa^iri- forms me that a blue jay,- which was brought up** the family of the latter gentleman, had all ike India and loquacity of a parrot, pilfered every- thing he could conveniently carry. off, and. hid them in holes and crevices, answered to his name .with greats so* ciability when called on, could articulate a number of words, pretty distinctly, , and when he heard any uncommon noise or loud talking, seemed .impatient to contribute his share to the general ^festivity (as^he probably thought it) by a display of all the oraUmcal powers he was possessed of*." • Though this account, however, appears to. cumstantiaily and rather minutely given, we posed to consider the alleged imitations no better proved fchan those by which our native bird, the fludber (Laniits Collurid), is said to lure small birds- wthkfc its beat by mimicking their notes,— a feat of ingenuity not borne out by any observation we have been able * Am. Ornith. i. 16. IMITATIOK AND MIMICRY. 325 td irtal£, though our attention has been for five sumine** deeded to this point, in a district where the specks abounds. We have, on the contrary, ascertained that the flusher utters no call that has the most distant resemblance to that of any other bird, its usual note being a harsh, disagreeable screech*. The American mocking-bird attracted the notice of the earlier voyagers to the New World by the variety of its notes and the extraordinary compass and fineness of its voice, and above all by its appa- rent talent of mimicking the notes and cries of other birds and beasts. According also to Fernandez, Nieremberg, and Sir Hans Sloane, it is not satisfied with barely re-echoing the sounds imitated, but gives them a softness and grace not characteristic of the original, for which reason the Mexicans termed it the bird of four hundred tongues (Cenctintiatotli). These writers also mention its mingling action with its song, accompanying the notes with measured move- ments expressive of successive emotions. In its prelud- ing, it rises slowly with expanded wings, sinking back to the same spot, with its head hanging downwards, as the sky-lark may sometimes be observed to do. When it has advanced further in the performance, k ascends and descends on the wing in a spiral manuer, and if the notes are brisk and lively, it describes in the air circles, crossing in all directions. When the notes are loud and rapid it flaps its wings with proportional rapidity, and when the notes are unequal it bounds and flutters in unison ; but as it .becomes apparently tired of exertion, its tones soften by degrees, melt into tender strains, and die away in a pause, which has a peculiarly fine effect, while at the same time it gradually diminishes its action, glides gently and smoothly above its station tree * J. R. 2p « 326 HABITS 09 BIRDS. till the wavings of its wings become imperceptible, and finally ceasing, the little musician remains in the air suspended and motionless, as the kestril (Falco tinnunculus) may be seen to do when it watches for prey. I saw, heard, and admired," says Fernandez, a small bird brought to Madrid, the queen of ell singing birds, that could command any voice or tune. It is not bigger than a starling, white under- neath, brown above, with some black and white feathers intermixed, especially next the tail, and about the head, which is encircled with the likeness of a silver crown. It is kept in cages to delight the ear, and for a natural rarity or rather wonder. It excels all birds in sweetness and variety of song and perfect command of its voice, imitating the note of any sort of bird whatsoever, and excelling its exemplar. It goes far beyond the nightingale. I myself kept it along time*."* According to Goldsmith, who appears to speak from private information, as he does not here, as usual, translate nor follow Buffbn, the mocking-bird " is possessed not only of its own natural notes, which are musical and solemn, but it can assume the tone of every other animal in the wood, from, the wolf to the raven. It seems even to sport itself in leading them astray. It will at one time allure the lesser birds with the call of their mates, and then terrify them, when they have come near, with the screams of the eagle. There is no bird In the forest but it can mimic, and there is none that H has not at times deceived by its call. But, not like such as we usually see tamed for mimicking with us, and who have no particular merit of their own, the mock-bird is ever surest to please when it is most itself! At those times it usually frequents the houses of the American planters; and, sitting all * Hist. Anim. Nor. Hisp. IMITATION AND MIMICRY, 8 2 J night oil the chimney top, pours forth the sweetest and the most various notes of any bird whatever*." Pennant assures us that he himself heard " a caged one" in England " imitate the mewing of a cat, and the creaking of a sign in high winds," and that it not only sang, but danced, performing a great many gesticulations. He further tells us that it imitates the notes of all birds, from the humming* bird to the eagle f* • The Hon. Daines Barrin^ton, referring probably to the same bird, tells us that its notes were chiefly, if not entirely, imitations of the notes of other birds. ** I have happened/' he says, M to hear the American mocking-bird in great perfection, at Messrs. Vogels and Scott, in Love-lane, Eastcheap. During the space of one minute he imitated the wood-lark, chaf- finch, blackbird, thrush, and sparrow. 1 was told also that he would bark like a dog ; so that the bird seems to have no choice in his imitation ; though his pipe comes nearest to our nightingale of any bird I have yet met with. With regard to the original notes, however, of this bird, we are still at a loss, as this can only be known by those who are accurately acquainted with the song of the other American birds. Kalm, indeed, informs us that the natural song is excellent I ; but this traveller seems not to have been long enough in America to have distinguished what were the genuine notes. With us mimics do not often succeed but in imitations. I have little doubt, however, but that this bird would be fully equal to the song of the nightingale in its whole compass ; but then, from the attention which the mocker pays to any other sort of disagree- able noise, these capital notes would be always de- based by a bad mixture §." Southey, in a few lines, embodies nearly all that * Anim. Nat. iii. 219. f Arctic Zool. ii. 334. I Travels, i. 21 9, § l J bH. Tram. vol. 6$. pt. ii. p. 284, 328 HABITS OF BIRDS. the works we have quoted contain respecting this bird, which he calls— " That cheerful one, who knoweth all Hie songs of all the winged choristers ; And, in one sequence of melodious sounds. Pours all their music*." He adds in a note that " a negress was once heard to exclaim, * Please God Almighty, how sweet that mocking-bird sing! he never tire.' By day and night he sings alike ; when weary of mocking others, the bird takes up its own natural strain, and so joy- ous a creature is it, that it will jump and dance to its own music. This bird is perfectly domestic, the Americans holding it sacred. Would that we had more of these humane prejudices in England, if that word may be applied to a feeling so good in itself and in its tendency f** By far the most circumstantial account, however, of this wonderful bird (which Ray has even gone so far as to place among the fabulous and doubtful species in his Appendix to Willughby's Ornitho- logy) i & given by Wilson in a characteristically graphic passage. " This celebrated and very extra- ordinary bird," he says, " in extent and variety of vocal powers, stands unrivalled by the whole fea- thered songsters of this or perhaps any other coun- try ; and shall receive from us all that attention and respect which superior merit is justly entitled to. The plumage of the mocking-bird, though none of the homeliest, has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it ; and, had he nothing else to recommend him, would scarcely entitle him to notice ; but his figure is well proportioned, and even handsome. The ease, ele- gance, and rapidity of his movements, the animation of his eye, and the intelligence he displays in listen- ing and laying up lessons from almost every species * Madoc, ii. 48. t DaYiesj Brazil) quoted by Southey, Madoc, ii. 235. IMIT*HOy **9 MIMICRY. 3£9 $tty,Xll^Vpik creation within his bearing* are really surprising, and mark the peculiarity of his genius. To these, qualities we may add that of a voice, full, strong, and musical, and capable of almost every modulation, from the clear mellow tones of the wood-thrush, to the savage scream of the foltl.wgl** I** measure and accent he faithfully follow* Us originals ; in force and sweetness of ex* pr#£sicm he, greatly improves upon them. In his native groves, mounted on the top of a tall bush or bfllf-grown. tree, in the dawn of the dewy morning, wJute top woods are already vocal with a multitude q£ warblers, his admirable song rises pre-eminent tyggr. every competitor. The ear can listen to kia Ifywiq alpne, to. which that of all the others seems a m«4f accompaniment . Neither is his strain altoge- ther imitative. His own native notes, which are 9^%'dfetHiguishable by such as are well acquainted wjth those of our various song-birds, are bold and fall, jwd varied seemingly beyond all limits. They Wfifisfr of short eap&ssions of two, three, or at the ptop.t jiva or six syllables, generally interspersed gift, imitations, and all of them uttered with great fKnpbasjs and rapidity; and continued, with undi- minished ardour* for half an hour, or an hour, at a 4mfr, His expanded wings and tail, glistening with Whitfr.and the buoyant gaiety of bis action, arresting the gyp, as his song irresistibly does the ear. He gw^epa round with enthusiastic ecstasy ; he mounts and fUsnends as his song swells or dies away ; and aft.HVy friend Mr, Bartram has beautifully expressed ik/,He bounds aloft with the celerity of an arrow, ag 4f t# recover or, recall his very soul, expired in the Jftflt elevated strain*.' While thus exerting himself, £tibj9tattder« destitute of sight, would suppose that &| whole feathered tribe tyd assembled together, oa ♦ Travels, p. 32, Introd. 2*8 * trial pf skill ; each strwing iopw^$t^,^mQ*t effect.; so perfect ^re his imitations* ; He>m*By times deceives the. sportsman,, and se^s> hina*risi search of birds thai perhaps are not withw *ttle<*<«f him; but. whose notes he exactly imftaMp; t£vt* birds themselves are frequently imposed ^>n /by tftfe admirable mimic, and are decoyed by~ibe> fpnfettd calls of their mates; or dive with precipitation into the depth of thickets,, at the scream «£ what they suppose to be the sparrow-hawk. •. jj .«? "The mocking-bird loses little of the pfewejftAiid energy of his song by, confinement Infiis doweattr cated state, when he commences his. career $f;sopgWit is impossible to stand by uninterested. « IJe whistles for the dog; Ceesar starts tjp* w*gs . .hi0teil*<9*i«wwg of the cat, the creaking of a passing wh^elbawpn^ follp^v with great truth and rapidity. He* repeal the tune taught him by his master, though:, of) oft*? sider$ble length, fully and faithfully*, tie rund ovtir. ih§ quaverings of the canary, and the clear whistlifogrf of the Virginia nightingale, or red^bird, with sucfe superior execution and effect, thai the. mortified songsters feel their own inferiority, and beawfc altogether silent; while he seems to triumph in their defeat by redoubling his exertions* •. ( . "This excessive fondness for variety, however, .in 1 the opinion of some, injures his song. His elevated imitations of the brown thrush are frequently intej* rupted by the crowing of cocks; and the warWings of the blue-bird, which he exquisitely manages, ave miu^ gled with the screaming of swallows, or the ith* ii r 19. %& . 'm HABITS OB WMUftrT < >, , e*p*pt, as w* have fancied ^ th* Jfl^iMMtf*: spirited and sprightly *• ,..-,., .^^ - T r./crp . "The native notes of the mocking-bird/' «#■$ cording to Wilson, " have considerable r^semb^ii^ to those of the brown thrush (Turdw rufus), Jtty$ may easily be distinguished by their greater japidjty,* sweetness, energy of expression,, and ..witty"- W# have already seen also, that he describes the pa,rto£ the song not alleged to be imitative *a* ** bold.. &*%t and varied, seemingly, beyond all limits,;" so that wo* are at least borne out, by several strong facts, i».. angiog of the American moakiog-bird and th^ Euro- pean nightingale, i' It may not be improper/,' -s*y$ Daines Berrington, tf to consider, whether the njgtyin^ gale may not have a very formidable coj£petitoj; .Jt^ the American mocking-bird, though. almost atil travels lers agree, that the concert in the European, v*ao4», is superior to that of the other parts of th$;,glob$/A He adds, from his own observation* that jts ;'.pifM comes the nearest to our nightingale of any birdjt have yet met with f." . » , Wilson, never having heard the nightingale, m*Q not of course make the requisite .comparison 3 but after quoting Harrington's sentiment^. J^gg^ claims, H What must we think of that, bird, ytfify j$ the glare of day, when a multitude jQtf spugfO&r^^te, straining their throats, in. melody, overpowers k&m those two provoked each other, and, hyaaaWeriagy invited and drew one another to speak; yet they./didr not confound their words, or talk, both tpge&er* hgft rather uttered them alternately* and in epurse.r Bestdftto the daily discourse of the guests, they chaunieoVjOJtti two stories, which generally held them Ir^m «i who co^jd »efk sleep for nights together, was perfectly, aansibie>j#ft their discourse. . One .of their, stories t?as ,«oneeisft*B ing the tapster and his wife, who refused -te -foUojitt him to the wars, as he desired her ; for the buftbajfcij endeavoured to persuade his wife, as far a^luftdepw stood by the birds, that he would leave his strvkttoiifc.' that inn, and go to the wars, in hopes of.pl unde**; but she refused to follow him, resolving, to? ftlaggt either at Ratisbon, or go to Nuremberg. These wa#l a long and earnest contention between thejn, MtMICRY. 337 jpntoe6}i|ftid*kept a secret ; but the birds, not know- aHhe "difrerence between modest, immodest, ho- t, and filthy words, did out with them. The dtber story was concerning the war which the Em- p^tforwas then* threatening against the Protestants, Wftfch the bird ' probably heard from some of the gerierfrts that had conferences in the house. These thing* did they repeat in the night after twelve tfctock, when there was a deep silence; but in the daytime, for the most part, they were silent, and seemed to do nothing' but meditate and revolve with tfeemsetves upon what the guests conferred about together as they sat tit table, or in their walks. I Verily had never believed our Pliny writing so many Wonderful things concerning these little creatures, Mud I trot -myself seen them with my eyes, and heard ttttiftrwlth my ears uttering such things as I have re- lated $ 'neither yet can I of a sudden write all, or call to remembrance every particular that I have heard*." ** fFhe ttiarvellousness of this story, however, if it W a mere legendary fiction, is somewhat counte- rianded by the well*authenticated accounts of a grey jfacrttt?(Psittacu* erithacus) which belonged to Co- lonel O'Kelly, This extraordinary bird " not only," says Bmgley, M repeated a great number of sen- tences, but answered many questions: it was also able ; to whistle many tunes. It beat time with all the appearance of science ; and so accurate was its, judgment, that if by chance it mistook, a note, it would revert to the bar where the mistake was made, correct itself, and, still beating regular time, go through the whole with wonderful exactness. Its death was thus announced in the General Evening P***, for the 9th of October, 1802:— 'A few days ate died, In Half Moon-street, Piccadilly, the cele- brated parrot of Colonel O'Kelly. This singular. -"''"' •• Gesuer, Ornithologia. 338 HABITS OF BIRDS. -*• bird sang a number of songs in perfect time and tune ; she could express her wants articulately, and give her orders in a manner approaching nearly to rationality. Her age was not known ; it was, how- ever, more than thirty years, for previously to that period Mr. O'Kelly bought her at Bristol for a hundred guineas. The Colonel was repeatedly of- fered five hundred guineas a year for the bird, by persons who wished to make a public exhibition of her ; but this, out of tenderness to the favourite, he constantly refused. The bird was dissected by Dr. Kennedy and Mr. Brookes; and the muscles of the larynx, which regulate the voice, were found, from the effect of practice, to be uncommonly strong*/ " There are many persons now alive who have witnessed these scarcely credible performances* Amongst these the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Herbert says, " that wonderful bird, Colonel O'Kelly's parrot, which I had the satisfaction of seeing and hearing, (about the year 1799, if I recollect rightly,) beat the time always with his foot, turning round upon the perch while singing, and marking the time as it turned. This extraordinary creature sang perfectly about fifty different tunes of every kind, * God save the King,' solemn psalms, and humorous or low ballads, of which it articulated every word as dis- tinctly as a man could do, without even making a mistake. If a bystander sang any part of the song, it would pause and take up the song where the person had left off without repeating what he had said. When moulting and unwilling to sing, it would answer all solicitations by turning its back and repeatedly saying, ' Poll's sick.' I am persuaded that its instructor had taught it to beat timef." M. Montbeillard says he saw a parrot of the grey sort which grew old with its master and shared with * Anim. Biog. ii. 227. t Notes to White's Selborne, 8ro. edit. 1832. IMITATION A*D MIMICRY. S3* him the infirmities of age ; and being accustomed to hear very frequently repeated the words " I am sick" (Je mis mcUade), when a person said to it, " How do you do, Poll ?" (Qu'astu, Pcrroquet, qu'as tu), it replied, in a doleful tone, " 1 am sick," stretching itself .the while over the fire, (Je mis ma- lade*). " The noble Philip Marmix, of St. Alde- gond," says Clusius, " had a parrot whom I have often heard laugh like a man, when he was bidden to do so by the bystauders, in these words, ' Laugh, parrot, laugh (Riez> perroquet, riez). Yea, which was more wonderful, it would presently add, as if it had been endowed with reason, ' What a great fool to make me laugh!* (0 le grand sot, qui me faict fire), which it was wont to repeat twice or thricet. ,, It would be easy to fill a volume with such anec- dotes of parrots and other speaking birds, though many of them are evidently much over-coloured. We shall only add one more, on the respectable authority of Mr. Syme, who tells us he " went, one morning, with a friend, to see a collection of birds belonging to a gentleman in Antigua-street, Edin- burgh, and among these were some very fine star- lings ; one in particular, which cost five guineas. Breakfast was ready before we entered the room. When the bird was produced, it flew to its master's hand, and distinctly pronounced, ' Good morning, Sir, — breakfast — breakfast.' It afterwards hopped to the table, examined every cup, and, while thus employed, it occasionally repeated, * Breakfast — breakfast — bread and butter for Jack — tea, tea — bread for Jack — pretty Jack — pretty Jack.* One thing we observed was this, it often said the same word or sentence twice over, perhaps in imitation of the person by whom it had been taught J." * Oiseaux, Art. Le Perroquet Cendr6. f Atrebat exotic, fol. Rapbelengii, 1065. J British Song Birds, p, 63. 34* HABIT! OF fttSDS. Chapter XVIII* LONGEVITY OF BIRDS. It may be stated as a general principle that animals are long-lived, somewhat in proportion to their size ; and that seems to have some connexion with the rapidity of the circulation of the blood. In the larger animals, such as the elephant, the blood moves slowly ; and in the smaller sorts, such as small birds or mice, the circulation is so rapid that the beats of the pulse can be counted with difficulty or not at all. We are not, however, disposed on this account to infer with the celebrated Boerhaave that the motion of the blood through the arteries and veins tends, by mechanical friction, to destroy the texture of the parts *. We are rather inclined to agree with Baron Haller in referring the apparent effect to the obstructions arising from the minuter vessels being obliterated - !". Cullen, who partly adopts the opinion of Haller, proceeds upon the three principles that there is a different distribution of the blood in the different periods of life, that the vessels oner a greater resis- tance to the entrance and transmission of the fluids as age advances, and that the excitability gradually decreases. The quantity of the blood is most con* siderable in youth ; and the arteries being then in a state of over-distension, while the system is at the same time more contractile and sensitive, the ten- * Epist ad Ruyich, Lug. Batav. 1722. t Elementa Physiol, xix. 3. 3. dency is to increased action. The growth of the body depends on this. The functions being all in an active state, a large quantity, of blood is formed, from which the materials are supplied that increase the body and make up for the daily waste going on. This addition of new matter and the force of the circulation distend the different parts and add to their bulk. The addition of new matter, after some time, and the degree to which the extension has been carried impede the further continuance of the process, and the power of the arteries beeomes so balanced with reference to the condition of the system as to cause its present state to continue. The balance, however* k soon destroyed by the diminished action ; and the veins being more easily distended than the arteries, and having experienced less alteration in their tex- ture, while they also partake less of vital action, the blood is more disposed to accumulate in them*. This principle may be made still more plain by saying, that as age advances the fine hair-like Wood* vessels* which branch off in every direction through the body, and more particularly through the skin and near the surface, become obstructed and imperforate, and consequently the skin and the other parts to winch they run, not being supplied with their nou- rishment of fresh blood, shrink and wither ; the internal parts becoming gradually more stiff and hard, and the skin first sallow and then dry and wrinkledi In such cases, when the smaller blood-vessels are obliterated, the larger ones swell with blood which cannot get vent, and this is the reason why we sea old people's veins swell, as on the back part of the hands or feet. - Insects, though they have no circulating blood Kfce the larger animals, furnish an analogical corfo- i' * Cullers Physiology, p. 249. 2g3 lit H AMI'S OTtfULDS. beretion of the same views* for theirtrtais sdbnrfoet coming rigid and' dry, old- age* comes iapfdfy>>upri'H them ; few- of them in their adult state living atone than a few- days or weeks, and fidme mbt-maxf hours. • » i- ** Fishes," again, to use ther words of Smellier *' whose bones are more cartilaginous than those > of men and quadrupeds, are long of acquiring their utmost growth, and many of them live to great ageai Gesner gives an instance of a carp in Germany^ which be knew to be one hundred years old. - BeiFori informs us that, in Count Maurepa's ponds iie had seen carps of one hundred and fifty years of ^age; and that the fact was attested in the most satisfactory manner. He even mentions one watch he sfuu£> posed to >. be two hundred years old*. The element in which ftshes'live is more uniform, and less subject to accidental changes than the atr of our atmospheres Their bones,* which are more of a • cartilaginous nature than those of land animals, admit of indefinite? extension ; - of course; their bodies, instead of •snfiaiM ing the rigidity of « age at an early period, whkhrde the natural cause of death, continue to grow ntaclk longer thai* those of most land antmajs f»'' • It is a very prevalent notion that in what is termed and supposed to be a state of nature, diseases (assumed to be wholly caused by artificial Hying) do not occur ; and -it is accordingly maintained that wild animals, from living in this state of nature^ are exempted from disease $. But in opposition to this doctrine many strong mots might be adduced. We lately caught a mouse, which was in the last stage of malignant erysipelas, which carried it off in a many circumstances, to form 'an accurate statement of the natural duration of animal life,, the wild creatures being in great measure re* moved from: observation, and those in a condition of domestication being seldom. permitted to live as long as their bodily strength would allow. - It was far* nkrrry. supposed that the length of animal life was in DTJBportion to its duration m utero, or the space it remained in the parent, from conception to birth* * J. R. f Fleming, Brit. Anim. p. 8. ,' _ . | Journal of a Naturalist, p. 148. $ Marshall, Diseases of Ceylon, p. 16. || Histoire Gtaetale des Antilles, ii. 271 944 H4?p?Mi«»i>8. and the length of timq it,jsquired to.pbiafcits* and by su&h, attentireui many ha v* attained to a great age; but this is rather an .artificial tfcm-a. natural existence. Qius herbivoroua animals, bein^, kept .mostly tor profit, are seldom avowed 4o remain beyond approaching age, and when its advaaoas trench upon our emoluments by diminishing the supply of utility, we remove them. The uses trfrtfae horse, though time may reduce them, are often pro*' tracted ; and our gratitude for past services«n-*or tat terest in what remains/ prompts us to support kris life by prepared Jbod» for easy digestion, or requiting little mastication, and he certainly by such means attains to a longevity probably beyond the contin- gencies of nature. I have still a favourite pony — for she has been a faithful and able performer of all the duties requiredof berinjny service fqr upwards LONGEVITY. ' 345 of two and twenty years— and, though' now above live and twenty years of age, retains all her powers perfectly, without any diminution, or symptom of decrepitude ; the fineness of limb, brilliancy of eye, and ardour of spirit, are those of the colt, and though treated with no remarkable care, she has never been disabled by the illness of a day, or sick- ened by the drench of the farrier. With birds it is probably the same as with other creatures, and the eagle, raven, parrot, &c, in a domestic state attain great longevity ; and though we suppose them natu- rally tenacious of life, yet, in a really wild state, they would expire before the period which they attain when under our attention and care. And this is much the case with man, who probably outlives most other creatures ; for though excess may often shorten, and disease or misfortune terminate his days, yet naturally he is a long-lived animal. His ' three score years and ten' are often prolonged by constitutional strength, and by the cares, the loves, the charities of human nature. As the decay of his powers awakens solicitude, duty and affection in- crease their attentions, and the spark of life only expires when the material is exhausted*." The birds most celebrated for longevity are the raven, the pelican, and the eagle, though the evi- dence which we have met with, in proof of the com- mon opinion respecting the long life of these birds, is not always so satisfactory as we could wish. To these may be added the sky-lark, which has been known to live in a cage, as Oltnat says, ten years ; while Raczynski mentions an instance in which one lived twenty-four years J." * Journ. of a Nat. p. 181, 1st edit, t Ucoeliiera, ibl. Roma, 1684. I HisU Nat. Poloniae, 4to. Gaed. 1745. £46 HABITS OF BIRDS. Ill his chapter on " the Longest lives," Pliny says* " Hesiod (the first writer, as I take it, who hath treated of this argument, and yet like a poet), in his fabulous discourse touching the age of man, said, forsooth, that a crow lives nine times as long as we; and harts or stags four times as long as he, but ravens thrioe as long as they*." If we estimate accordingly a generation at thirty years, the age of the crow would be 270 years, that of the stag 1080 years, and that of the raven 3240 years; but if we interpret the terms used by both Hesiod and Pliny to signify a year, we should then have the life of the crow nine years, and of the raven 108, which is probably nearer the truth. " No person, as far as I know," says Montbeil- lard, " has determined the age at which the young ravens have acquired their full growth, and are ca- pable of propagating* If in birds, as in quadru- peds, each period of life was proportional to the total space of existence, we might suppose that the erows required many years to reach their adult state, •though it seems well • ascertained that this bird sometimes lives a century or more. In many cities of France they have been known to attain to that ^distant period; and in all countries, and all ages, they -have been reckoned as birds extremely long-lived. •But the progress to maturity must be slow in this .species, compared to the duration of their life; for towards the end of the first summer, when all the family consort together, it is difficult to distinguish the old from the young, and, very probably, they are capable of breeding the second yeart." Pigeons are reported to have lived from twenty to twenty-two years J ; and even linnets, goldfinches, * Holland's Plinie, vii. 48. t Oiseaux, Art. Le (jorbeau. | Smellie, Philos. of Nat. Hist. ii. 416, 8ro. ed. LONGirriTY, 347 and bther small birds, have been known to live from fifteen to twenty-three years*. % Willughby says, " We have been assured by a friend of ours, a person of very good credit, that his father kept a goose, known to be fourscore years of age, and as yet sound and lusty, and like enough to have lived many years longer, had he not been forced to kill her for mischievousness, worrying and destroying the young geese and goslins t>" In another part of his valuable work, this writer tells us, " that he has been assured by credible persons, that a goose will live a hundred years and more J." It has been supposed that the pelican derives its great longevity from the peculiar texture of its bones, which are thin, almost transparent, and ex- ceedingly light. Even in captivity it has been ob- served to be more tenacious of life than most other birds. " Of a great number of pelieans kept in the menagerie at Versailles) none died in the space of twelve years ; yet during that time some of almost every other species of animals died §." It was reported, as Aldrov&nd has stated, by per- sons worthy of credit, that a pelican, eighty years of age (octogenariam), was kept by the Emperor Maximilian, and was held as a sort of auspicator in his camp. It was supposed to have been hatched in the time of Philip, the emperor's father. It was afterwards kept for a long time at the court of the empress, after it was no longer able, through old age, to use its wings, the expense of keeping it being four crowns a day||. Turner mentions one which * Willughby, Ornith. f Ornitholog. p. 14. J Ibid. p. 256. $ Mem. de 1 Acad, des Sciences, p. 191. || Ornitbologia, six. 22. 349 habits or mwos." liy«d . fifty, years * ;. Had Raczynski Another, kejjt '«fc the court of Bavaria for forty years t. " Eagles/' says Pennant, " are remarkable fair their longevity, and for their power of sustaining' a long abstinence from food. A golden eagle, which has now been nine years in the possession of Owetr Holland, esq. of Conway, lived thirty-two years with the gentleman who made him a present of it ;' but what its age was, when the latter received it' from Ireland, is unknown. The same bird also ftttf- nishes a proof of the truth of the other remark, having once, through the neglect of servants, €n~ dured hunger for twenty-one days, without any sus* ' tenance whatsoever J." ■ t The great age of the eagle is beautifully aHudeti to in the Psalms, where it is said of the righteous man, that his " youth is renewed like the eagle's §," a paa* sage which greatly exercised the ingenuity of the 1 ancient . fathers and other commentators in fancying' the manner in which the eagle did renew its^Outh. The greater number of them, and* among these, St. J Jerome, St. Ambrose, St Gregory, Nieephorus, and' Rabbi David* say that, when the bird begnts fd ' feel advancing age from the weight of its feathers - and , the dimness of its eyes, it betakes itself to a fountain of water, and plunging therein, has its, whole frame renovated. St* Damian adds, that before, immersion, it so places itself in the focus of the sun's rays (ad circulum solis) as to set its wings' on fire, and in this way to consume the old fea- ' thers || ; proving pretty plainly that St; Damian was ' not aware of the natural mode of birds renewing * Hist. Avium. f Hist. Nat. Poloniae. J Brit. Zool. i. 123, 8vo. edit $ Psal. ciii. 5, almost uniformly misquoted cii. in books. || Epist. ii. 18, 19, apud Physics Curiose, p. 1118. tfcefc? ftatto» by moulting. Rabbi David adds, that when it delays the operation too long it has not sjtxength to rise from the water, and is frequently 4r<*«wd*. < Su Augustine says, that when the eagle becomes very old, the upper mandible of the beak grows so l*H*g thal^ the bird can no longer feed, in which case i$ betakes itself to a rock or rough stone, and nibs its beak till the overgrown part is ground down into' p«oper proportion f. _ Albertus Magnus gives a still more ingenious pro- cess of renewal, not however of his own invention, but quoted from Jorachus and Andetinus, whose works we presume are now lost. ** They say," rjeperte Albertus, " that an old eagle at the period th? 4 yyuag ones are fledged, as soon as she has dis- covered a clear and copious spring, flies directly upwafds even to the third region of the air, which we. term the. region of meteors, and when she feels warm, so as to be almost burning, suddenly dashing dgwn and keeping her wings drawn back, she pi tinges into : .the cold water, which by the astringing of the external cold increases the internal heat. She then r}se$ from the water, flies to her nest, and nest- ling under the wings of her warm young ones, melts iiUo; perspiration, and thence with her old feathers stye, ,puU off her old age, and is clothed afresh ; but* M*hile,3he undergoes this renovation, she makes prey of b$£ young for food. But I can only,'* he adds, " consider this as a miraculous occurrence, since iri ' twp, eagles wlueh I kept I observed no changes' of this,. sort; for they were tame and docile, arid moulted in the same manner as other birds of prey J." * Comment. Esaiae, cap. xiv. f In Psalm, ciii. 6. J De Animal, xxiii. cap. de Aquila. 2 350 HABITS OP BIRDS. It is very obvious that all these are mere fancies, and further, that there are few or no data by which to determine the age of wild birds. We have indeed observed among house-sparrows, individual cock- birds, in which the black markings were intermixed with white feathers; but whether this was the hoari* ness of age, or merely an accidental variety of colour, we had no means of ascertaining*. It has been long decided that the grey-headed crow is not an old carrion crow grown hoary with age as is popularly believed; but a different species (Corvus corrtur). * J.R. 961 Chapter XIX. THE PHCBNIX. — THE BERNACLE GOOSE. The popular love of the marvellous has propagated stories respecting the existence of birds, whose Ion- . gevity far exceeds all that has ever been related of the crow or the eagle. Of these, the most remark- able is the PkceniXj of which therefore, as a specimen of fabulous ornithology, we will take the present opportunity of giving some account. The subject ought to prove not a little interesting, at least to the numerous individuals who trade, under the name of this bird, in insurance offices, iron companies, engine factories, stage-coaches, steam-packets, race-horses, coffee-houses, and innumerable other heterogeneous things, which are imagined, we suppose, to derive a mysterious influence from the name of "Phoenix. It may be well to begin with the first account which has been transmitted to us of this bird — that of Herodotus, the father of history. " There is," says he, " a sacred bird, the name of which is the phoenix : I have not myself seen it, ex- cepting in a picture, for it seldom visits even the Egyptians themselves, only every five hundred years, according to the statement of the people of Heliopo- . lis ; and they say that it never comes except when its sire dies. If it is like its picture, it is of the following size and shape : its plumage is partly gold-coloured, partly crimson ; and it is completely similar to the eagle in outline and in bulk. They relate that this bird acts in the following manner, but I cannot give credit to their assertions ; that depart* 352 HABITS OF BIRDS. ing out of Arabia, it brings its parent to the temple of the sun, having previously enveloped him with myrrh, and buries him in the temple of the sun : that it conveys him in the following manner ; in the first place it shapes an egg of myrrh of such a volume as it is able to carry, and then tries whether it can carry it ; after it has completed, the trial, it hollows out the egg, and places its parent on the inside of it, and then closes with other myrrh that part . of the egg by which it introduced the body of its parent. The body lying in the inside, the weight is the same. Having thus enveloped him, it carries him into Egypt to the temple of the sun. Such are the actions which they represent this bird as perform- ing* " The following description by Pliny is chiefly, if not wholly, derived from Herodotus. " The birds," he says, " of ^Ethiopia and India are for the most part of diverse colours, and such as a man is hardly able to decipher and describe; but the phoenix of Arabia passes all others. Howbeit I cannot tell what to make of him : and first of all whether it be a tale or no that there is never but one of them in all the world, and the same not commonly seen. By report he is as big as an eagle ; for colour, as yellow and bright as gold, (namely, all about the neck;) the rest of the body a deep red purple : the tail azure blue, intermingled with feathers among of rose car- nation colour ; and the head bravely adorned with a crest and penache finely wrought, having a tuft and .plume thereupon right goodly to be seen. Manilius, the noble Roman senator, right excellently seen in the best kind of learning and literature, and yet never taught by any, was the first man of the long robe who wrote of this bird at large, and most exqui- sitely he report eth, that never man was known to see * Herodotus, Euterpe, 73. Laurent's Trans. •• \ tvmmn* • 3*3 t Wca fo»di*g ; that in Arabia he k held a sacred bird, dedicated unto tbeeuni thatbeliveth 660 years, and when be growetb. old and begin* to decay, he builds . himself a neat with the twigs and branches of the canel or qinampn, and frankincense trees ; and when he hath filled it with all sort of sweet aromatical spices, yieldeth up his life thereupon. He saith moreoyer that of his bones and marrow there . breeds at first , as it were a little warm, which afterwards proveth to be q, pretty bird. And the first thing that this young new phoenix doth is to perform the obsequies of the former pknenix late deceased ; to translate and carry ,away his whoje. nes$ into the city of the sun near *J£a*iehea» and to bestow it full devoutly there upon the altar. The same Manilius affirmeth that the , revolution of the (great year so much spoken of, >ag)$eth just with the life tof this bird, in which year the stars return again to their first points, and give ^ significations of times and seasons as at the begin- ning ; and withall that this.yeare should begin at high :nopti that very- day when the sun. entereth. the sign Aries: end by his saying, the year of that revolu- tion was by him shewed when P. lacinius and >}. Cornelius were consuls. Cornelius Valeriaaus : write th that whiles Q. Plautius and Sex* Papinius , were consuls, the phosni* flew into ^Egypt, Brought he was hither also to Rome in the time that Claudius rC&sar was censor, to wit in the eight hundredth year - from the foundation of Rome; and shewed openly to be seen in a full hall and generall assembly of the people, as appeareth upon the public records : how- beit, no man ever made any doubt but be was a counterfeit phoenix, and no better 4 /' We shall not go into the particulars of what ie said respecting • the phoenix by other ancient authors of , : inierior name, such as Solinust, who uses nearly the .* Holland's Pliqif, i, 271. t JPoiyhirt., cap. 46. 2h3 354 HABIT* OF BIRDS. * same words with Pliny; .ABlian*, mh* taarvcdsohmr it can calculate tbe exact number of years at tbe termination of which it is necessary to buHd ths funeral nest* and how it can fly unerringly to* Heli- opolis; and Philostratusf, who says the Egyptians sing elegiac hymns at its decease. We shall content ourselves with the notice which has been taken of it by Tacitus :— " Paulus Fabius and Lucius Vitellius succeeded to the consulship (a. u. c. 787, a. d. 34). In the course of the year, the miraculous bird known to the world, by the name of the phoenix, after disappearing for a series of ages, revisited Egypt. A phenomenon so very extraordinary could not fail to produce abun- dance of various speculation. The learning of Egypt was displayed* and Greece exhausted her ingenuity. The facts about which there seems to be a concur- rence of opinions, with other circumstances, in their nature doubtful, yet worthy of notice, will not be unwelcome to the reader. • 4 That the phoenix is sacred to the sun, and differs from the rest of the feathered species, in the form of its head and the tincture of its plumage, are points settled by the naturalists. Of its longevity the' ac- counts are various. The common" persuasion is that it lives- five hundred years, though by some writers the date is extended to fourteen hundred and sixty- one. The several eras- when the phoenix has been seen are fixed by tradition. The first, we are told, was in tbe reign of Sesostris ; the second in that of Amasis ; and in the period when Ptolemy, the third of the Macedonian race; was seated on the throne of 4 Egypt, another phoenix directed its flight towards Heliopolis, attended by a group of various birds, all attracted by the novelty, and gazing with wonder at so beautiful an appearance > For the truth of this * De Animalibua, vi. 58. f De Vi(. Apolloo. iii. *ff all men's sight ; such a bird came, suddenly* and fell into the middle of the fire, and was brent anon, tp ashes in the fire of the sacrifice ; and the ashes abpde there, and was besely kept and saved by the conar mandment of the priest : and, within three days of these ashes, was bred a little worm, that took the shapp of a bird at the last, and flew into the wilderness*." This account of a worm being generated out Qf the ashes of a sacrifice and afterwards becoming a bird, is precisely similar to the directions given by Virgil and Columella for the generation of bees from dead carcases, which originated in an imperfect knowledge of the natural history of insects t; whilp * Bartholomew GlantviHe, de Propriet. Iterant, translated ky Trevisa, fol. clxx. Black letter, Wynkyn d« Worde, London, 1498. t This may be seen explained at length in • Insect Transforms* twos', pp. 1—10, PHCENIX. 357 the appearance of a bird alighting on the altar must have obviously arisen from some eagle or vulture pouncing upon the carcase of the animal sacrificed, a circumstance, we should imagine, of occasional occurrence when altars were situated in the open air, and which, in Greece or Rome, instead of the bird being considered a phoenix, would have been hailed as an avatar (if we may borrow the Brahminical term) of Jupiter himself. That such were the cir- cumstances which, in process of time, were worked up into the fabulous and fanciful stories of the phoenix we have not a doubt ; and it appears to us that this is the only plausible and rational explanation which can be given, though a vast deal of learning and no little ingenuity has been expended in support of other views. Deusing*, for example, as well as Kirchmayerf and Laurenberg {, concludes that the phoenix was nothing else than a hieroglyphic character, signifying that the study and knowledge of the heavenly bodies originated in Phoenicia, the golden colour of the head denoting the stars, and the variegated body the earth, and so of the other parts. In the Introduction, again, to the Latin Translation of Pennant's Indian Zoology, by the late Dr. Rheinhold Forster, we are gravely told that the phoenix means the con- version of the great year; because Pliny says the conversion of the great year corresponds with the life of the phoenix ; and Horapollo says the Egyptian priests paint the phoenix as an emblem of the great year. The author, therefore, concludes by saying, " Every common year is a year of God ; and the great year the sun of time, which, in the Egyptian language, would be Dsphenoeisch, and, on account * Dissertatio de Phcenice. f Disputat. Zoologies, J Acerra, Philol. Cent. Secuud. Hijt. xvii. 35ft HABITS OF BIRDS. of the harshness of the first letter, the Greeks would make it (poti/tf (phoenix) *." By the same mode of reasoning he might have made the phoenix to be like Hamlet's cloud, " almost in shape of a camel, backed like a weasel,— or very like a whale." Forster's explanation, indeed, reminds us much of certain other sage expounders of antiquity, such as the Abbe* Bergier, who, rejecting Hardouin'« opinion that Hercules was Moses t, undertakes to demonstrate that, he was nothing more than a large causeway to prevent rivers from overflowing their banks, which rivers have been fabled to be serpents, boars, and lions, that he destroyed; while in the same spirit he imagines Jupiter to be rain, which im- pregnated Semele, a fountain, which brought forth Bacchus a marsh ; and Prometheus he. fancies to haw been a quantity of mortar, or a batch of potter's clay ; the eagle that preyed on his liver, the fire of a pottery kiln; and Mount Caucasus, the hearth or rather the kiln itself J. The late Mr. Bryant, in a similar way endeavoured to prove all our early his- tories to be symbolical fables of Noah's Ark, sad the -Deluge §. And a more recent author, Mr. Jfober, a disciple of Bryant's, seems strongly inclined to con- sider not only our celebrated outlaw (Robin Hood), but, more wonderful still, the present Isle of Bute; to be identical with the northern imaginary god, Woden or Odin || . When we see fancies so extravagant as these eel forth by learned and grave authors, we need not wonder that the fable of the phoenix has received a * Indian Zool. 4to. ed. p. 16. t ' Hercules non alias quam Moses est.' Note on Cicero, D* Nat. Deor. iii. % L'Origine des Deux, Paris, 1774, 6 Analysis of Ancient Mythology, paum, || Pagan Idolatry, ii. 303—7, Multitude of forms. The word phoenix, for iiH stance, from signifying a palm-tree, as well as the fabulous bird, has given rise to some strange mis- takes. Thus Tertullian translates, " The righteous thall flourish like the palm-tree*/' by •* The just shall flourish like the phoenix ;" and Dr. Poole, fol- lowing Amyot in translating Plutarch, uses these words : " Though the brain of the phoenix t be very sweet, it will cause the headache} ;" as if the brains of the pheenix were a no less common dish than the pith of the buds of the palm-tree, called the brain (cerebrum) by Pliny, are in the south of Europe, where they are served up with pepper and salt as a dessert §. It was a more plausible notion of Belon, (who went to the East, partly on purpose to ascertain the matter,) that the pheenix was one of the birds of paradise (Paradisea), the Rhyntaces of Aristotle, who describes it in the old erroneous way as wanting legs, and using the long feathers of its tail to suspend itself from trees. The first Portuguese navigators also called the bird of paradise the bird of the sua (Pasmros da sol). The only plausible and rational view, as it appears to its, of the history of the phoenix, is well illustrated by what has been recorded of the birds of prey in the country where this fabulous bird is said to have ex- clusively appeared. Bruce, for example, gives the following account of the bird which he met with near Gondar,andwhich the Abyssinians call Abou Duch'n, or father long-beard (Gypaetos barbatus ? Storr)* •* This noble bird," says 'he, " was not the object of any chase or pursuit, nor stood in need of any strata- gem to bring him within our reach. Upon the * Psalm xcii. 12. % + The original )5 rev iyxifaXw too (foMxof, } Rules for the Preservation of Health, edit. 1684» § Matbeolius' Comment on Dioscorides. 360 HABITS OF BIRDS. highest top of the mountain Lamalmon, whttemy *e*» vants were refreshing themselves from that tmlsMM nigged ascent, and enjoying the pleasure of a mofct delightful climate, eating their dinner in the outer air, with several large dishes of boiled goat*' fleafc before them, this enemy, as he turned out to c be to them, suddenly appeared : he did not stoop rapidly from a height, but came flying slowly along the ground, and sat down close to the meat within the ring the men had made round it. A great shout er rather cry of distress called me to the place. I sa the eagle stand for a minute, as if to recollect self; while the servants ran for their lasses*. »*d shields. I walked up as nearly to him as I had tin to do. His attention was fixed upon the flei saw him put his foot into the pan, where there was a large piece, in water, prepared for boiling ; but feel- ing the smart, which he had not expected, he with- drew it, and forsook the piece which. he held. There were two i large pieces, a leg and a shoulder, lying upon a wooden platter: into these he thrust both his claws and carried them off; but I thought he still looked wistfully at the large piece, which remained in the warm water. Away he. went slowly along the ground as he had come. The face of the cliff over which criminals are thrown took him from, our sight. The Mahometans that drove the asses were much alarmed, and assured me of his return. My servants, on the other hand, very unwillingly expected him, and thought he had already taken more than his share. As I had myself a desire, of more intimate acquaintance with this bird, I loaded a rifle gun with ball, and ,sat down close to the platter by the meat* It was not many minutes before he came, and a pro- digious shout was raised by my attendants, * He is coming ! he is coming !' enough to have dismayed a less courageous animal. Whether he was not quite si*a«ngry aa at his first visit, or suspected something from my appearance, I know not; but he made a abort turn, and sat down about ten yards from me, toe pan of meat being between me and him. As tbe field was clear before me, and I did not know but hi a next move might bring him opposite to some of my people, bo that he might actually get the rest of the meat and make oft; I shot him with the ball through the middle of his body, about two inches below the wing 1 , so that he lay down upon the grass without a single flutter." It is worthy of remark that Bruce adds, " the feathers of the belly and breast were of a gold colour *, ' which might almost Lsramer Gcjtr, Bmrdad Eagle, or Vulture, (Ojjjaeloi tarWui). • Travels to the Sources of the Nile, App. p. 1 jj. 362 HABITS O* SfRDS pass for * translation from PRny's description of tit* Pliny records a story of an eagle somewhat Hire that of Bruce, bat approaching s'till more closely to the fable of the phtKtttic. 4t There happened," fce says, «' a tnaTvettoos example about ttte cfty Sestofc, of aft eagle ; for Which in fliose parts there goes % gTeat name of an eagrje, audi nighty is she honoured there. A young trmid had brought tap * young eagle by hand ; the eagle again, to recite her frffedtoess*, would first, when she was but Htrte, fly abroad a birding, and •ever bring part Of that she had gotten unto her saM nurse, in process of time; betng grown bigger and stronger, woutd set upon wild beasts also in the forest, and furnish her young mistress ctfcrti- hu&lly with store of venison. At length, it fcfttattfed that fhe damsel died ; and when her funeral fire was set a burning, the eagle flew into the midst of it, mud there was consumed into ashes 'With the corpse irf the said virgin. For which cause, wd in mem o rfti thereof, the inhabitants Of Sesto*> and the puts &*r% adjoining, erected in that very pfocte a stalely tasomtft ment, such as they call Hetotrtn, dedicated in ttoe feame of Jupiter and the Virgin, fi* that the wgte Ik a bird consecrated unto that god *,'* To these notices of the patent* %e may ttppttf* by way of further sample of fabulous ornilifto'tog^ some of the strange illations that have been delivered by various Writers touching artother femous fcin& tfce bernacte or cteik (Anas berfticla, WiLLtraMfc M* i*ucopsi*,*t iettfeiNcfc), a specie* Ofgoose-, Wfckh Is ttift uncomvnoh doting the Autumn atad whiter m ftr&afn and (Holland, but retires fertfecT Worth 9n the gn- mer to taeed. It ttteasutfes two -feet *ML fc fev&lf in length, and is dfstingtiiitod by fits fett ITiA Teet, as * HottftudVitiiiy,*&. BBHNACLE. 363 Will as the hi^d-head, neck, breast, wings, and tail being' back", while the tore head, throat, and all the lender parts, are pure, while. It has sometimes been confounded with the brand or brent goose. (A nag btenifi, WiLtiwjHBV) ; but the latter is much smaller, measuring only twenty-two or twenty -three, inches, and is differently coloured. B>ra*ile, or Cl»ik Goose. This bird was not only fancied to originate from lotten timber as well as to grow on trees like some sorts of mushrooms (Agarici, Boleti, &c), but authors of no mean reputation both in Scotland and England assert that they have themselves actually witnessed this miraculous phenomenon ; and from its having been first observed in this country, the continental naturalists were led to call the bernacle the British bird by way of distinction. The Scottish historian, Btitce, being one of the oldest ocular witnesses b give it red feet, and call it 364 HABITS OF BIRDS. whom we have met with, we shall give his own narrative as translated by Bellenden : — " Rests now," says he, " to speak of the geese engendered of the sea named claiks. Some men be* lieves that thir (these) claiks grows on trees by the nebbis (bills). But their opinion is vain. And be- cause the nature and procreation of thir (these) claiks is strange, we have made no little labour and diligence to search the truth and verity thereof, we have sailed through the seas where thir (these) claiks are bred, and finding by great experience that the nature of the seas is more relevant cause of tbeir procreation than any other thing. And howbeit thir (these) geese are bred many sundry ways, they are bred ay allanerly (only) by nature of the seas. For all trees that are cassin (cast) into the seas by pro* cess of time appears first worm-eaten, and in the small bores and holes thereof grows small worms. First they show their head and feet, and last of all they show their plumes and wings. Finally, when they are coming to the just measure and quantity of geese, they fly in the air, as other fowls do, as was notably proven in the year of God one thousand iiii hundred lxxx, in sight of many people beside the castle of Pitslego, one great tree was brought by alluvion and flux of the sea to land. This wonder* ful tree was brought to the laird of the ground, quhilk«(who) soon after gart (caused) divide it by one saw. Appeared then one multitude of worms throwing tbemself out of sundry holes and bores of this tree. Some of them were rude as they were but new shapen. Some had both head, feet, and wings, but they had no feathers. Some of them were per- fect shapen fowls. At last the people having ylk (each) day this tree in more admiration, brought it to the kirk of Saint Andrews beside the town of Tyre, where it remains yet to our days. And within r two years after happened such one like tree, to come iW the firth pf Tay beside Dimdee, worm-eaten an.4 holed, full of young geese in the same manner. Suchlike; into the, port of Leith beside Edinburgh within few years after happened such one like case. One ship named the Chjistppfoer (after that she had lain iii years at one, anchor in one of thir (these) isles) was brought to l«eith. And because hey timber (as appeared) failed, she was brokeq down, Incontinent (immediately) appeared (as afore) all the inward parts pf her worm*eatin and all the holes, thereof full of geese, on the same manner as we ha,ve. shown. Attoure (moreover) if any man would allege by rajo argument, that thia Christopher was made of such trees as grew a^aneriy (only) in the, Isles, and that all the roots, and trees tha,t grows in th^ said Jsles, are of thai nature to be finaly by nature of sea* revised into geese; ; we, prp ve the. contrary ' thereof by, one notable example, showen a^e our ene (eyes). Master Alexander Qalloway, parson of Kinkell, was with us in. thir (these) Jslefy giving his mind with most earnest business to search the verity of thir (these) obscure and misty dqubts. And by adventure lifted up one sea tangle ({/ami- naxia saochurina ? Lamouhoux), hanging fall of iqussel shejls from the root to the branches. Spoq aftej he opened one of thir (these.) mussel shells* hut then he was more astonished than afore, for he saw no. fish in it but one, perfect shape^ fowj small and great ay efferyng (prop^ipnal} to ttye, quantity of the shejl. Th.}s clerl* Hn.P.wio.g \*s, right desirous of such vncouth (uuepmnqan) things, cam^ hastily with the said tangly ap.d opened it to us with all circumstance afpre rehearsed, {ty thir Obese) au$ many other reasons and examples we can not believe, that thir (these) claiks are produced by any nature of trees or xoo^s thereof, but allanerlv (only) r: 2 i 3 \ 866 HABITS OF BIRDS. by the nature of the ocean sea, quhitk (which) jferthe cause and production of many wonderful 'thragd. And because the rude and ignorant people savfr oftimes the fruits that fell off the trees (quhfikife (which) stood near the sea) converted within shokt time into geese, they believed that ytr (these) geese grew upon the trees hanging by their nebbis (bite), suchlike as apples and other fruits hangs by then- stalks, but their opinion is nought to be sustained. For as soon as thir (these) apples or fruits falb off the tree into the sea flood, they ' grow first worm- eat in. And by short' process of time are altered into geese*.*' Passing over for the present a number of foreign authorities, we shall take in preference that of Tur- ner, the most distinguished English naturalist of ids day, and who peculiarly devoted himself to the study of birds, upon which he has left us a little vplume in Latin, collected from the ancients, with comments upon each species from what he himself had actually observed. Speaking of two species of geese men- tioned by Aristotle, Turner says, ** The first goose Is now by us called brant or bernicle, and is less than the wild goose, the breast being of a black and the other parts of an ash colour. It flies in the manner of geese, is noisy, frequents marshes, and is de- structive to growing corn. Its flesh is not very savoury, and is little esteemed by the wealthy. Nobody has ever seen the nest or egg of the ber- nicle ; nor is this marvellous, inasmuch as it is with- out parents, and is spontaneously generated in die following manner. When at a certain time an old ship, a plank, or a pine-mast rots in the sea, some- thing like fungus at first breaks out thereupon, which at length puts on the manifest form of birds. After- * Hector Bo6ce, Cosmographie of Albioun, by Bell^ndcn, black letter, Edinburgh, (supposed) 1541, cap. xiiii. BRRNACLE. 3*7 wttrcls these are clpthed with feathers, and at last become living and flying fowl. Should this appear tcr any one to be fabulous, we might adduce the testimony not only of the whole people who dwell on tfee coasts of England, Ireland, and Scotland, but also that of the illustrious historiographer Gyraldus, who has written so eloquently the history of Ireland, •that the bernicles are produced in no other way. But since it is not very safe to trust to popular re- ports, and as I was, considering the singularity of the thing, rather sceptical even with respect to the tes- 'naony of Gyraldus, — while I was thinking over the ' subject, — I consulted Octavian, an Irish clergyman, . whose striet integrity gave me the utmost confidence in him, as to whether he considered Gyraldus worthy to be trusted in what he had written. This clergy- man then professed himself ready to take his oath ■upon the Gospels, that what Gyraldus had recorded of the generation of this bird was most true ; for he .himself had seen with his eyes, and also handled .those half-formed birds ; and he said farther, that if - 1 remained a couple of months longer in London, he would have some of them sent to me*." After the publication of his own work on birds, the same Turner wrote to the celebrated Gesner, • affirming that " the bernicle or brant is produced in the manner of mushrooms, from rotten ships," and that " these are everywhere to be found along the ooasts of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, still im- perfect and without feathers, but with the distinct form of birds/' Turner further informs Gesner, that ** besides the brant or bernicle, there is another - bird," we suppose he means the solan goose or gan- . net (Pdecanus bassanus), " which takes its origin from a tree. These trees grow upon the sea-coast of Scotland, upon which small bodies like mushrooms * Avium Praecip. Hist, Art. Anser* -*- * 338 HABITS OF BIRDS. are produced, at first unformed, bui grad^X acr j»VW $? ?hap$ of W r 4s» w»4 w lW they ars q£ §pme hj^uesa %y hang a short time l\y tfie beak a^d then fall iotp thp wale$, where thsy become living hirds* ^11 whiqh, being a^Airm^d t# men of yteiti* I not only dare behave my$df« bwi aba p^reuajlfi others to believe*." > lX & m#re recent English q^tpofo i* that q£ Qerard, the botawsU wUq. has an, express a*ti?le** his celebrated Herbal " ujpon ^he gP©$a T ^^8, ,, yttk which our readers, w? think, may h? bpth an»u^i and surprised. «« ^^ o,uj e <^ ^ ve s^en/ ^3. Gerard, ". and hands have tpuched, we §hali declare. There is a small island in ^anc^bh^j cabled the Pile of yo^ldera, wherein a re h>upd brp^en pieces of old and bruised stripy some, wherepf have, b#en east thither by shipwr^k, and also th^ trunks anil bodies with the branches of 6$ and rotten, fre^s, east up there likewise ; whereon is fou,nd a certain spume pr frpth, that in/.tiq^.bre^deJjh into : ' certain shells, in shape*' like 'those of the musseU tut sharped ppiujed, and of a whitish ^olaur, wherein fe con- tained a thing in form, like a lace pf s^k finely wpyen a§ it were together of a whitish colour » one end wereof is fastened unjto the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oysters and mussel are. ; the oth,er end is m.ade fast uutq the hejlyof a wte m.ass oj lump, which, in. time, cometh tp the §h a P? and ipm of a bird ; when it i§ perfectly formed, the shelj gapeth open, and the first thing that am^arjth 13 the foresaid la9e or str^g ; pe$t £ome the leg? pf the bird hanging out, and a^ it gr^weth greater it bpeneth the shell by degrees till a^ length it has all come forth, ajqd hang^th only by the/ foil j \n short space after it cometh to full maturity, ^n^ falletlj into the sea, where it gather$th fathers, and grpweth * Gesn^r, De Avibus,iij. 107. &c, BERNACLE. 369 (o a fowl bigger than a mallard and lesser than a goose, having black legs, and bill or beak, and fea- thers black and white, spotted in such manner os our magpie, called in some places pie-annet, which the people of Lancashire call by no other name lhan tree-goose; which place aforesaid, and of all those places adjoyning, do so much abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for three-pence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repaire to me, and I shall satisfy them by the testi- mony of good witnesses *." cle OOOK-Tret, from Otrart'. Ht • Gerard's Herbal, p. 1S87. £70 HAWTf WJ^gDS. * Bauhiu add* tp tbis, n^r^eAlojjfS story,, th^t if the leaves of this, tifee fall upon land th$y become tyfcd*, and if iato the wa^r they are, tr^nsquMed ityljo. $shes *. The celebrated Cardan \$ W>th$r , lite trefcs themselves Pulgtysus represents as similar to willows, as those who had seen them iti Ireland and in the Orkneys informed him *. The same cfretttA51»;itcfes are delated and credited by Bishop Lesfte in hte Scottish Chronicles; by Bishop IMajjoTus in frfs treatise on thfc Bosr/-days; by Odoric to fas -JuAtaftt of th« Tartarian fciamb>, by the celebrated Sc&ttger in Ms Etercitatidfis ; by Baptists Porta, Kfrctoer, Lobel, Isidore, i>elrio> Torquemada, Bartholomew Gtfatiftvifle \ MtfA what ft no less won- derful, by the dMngtofohed tfaturatists Aldrovand, Gesner, arid Johnstorv, wtrite Count Mayer wrote an entire volAtne upoft the subject, entitled a * Treatise of the IVefc-Bfrd (Without ffcdier or Mother) of the Orkne^ f fetes, fcftntiar to a Goose V In this sage production, thfe «atcJW*tral tmd imperial Count, as he styles briftSi^ 'deckfes tiiat the bernacfe "goose does not origStoatfe %iVlier from frufts ot worms, but from shells, if tofefcti toe opetard t h«rrdr^l, ttod found in all of ttfeWi *!hffe &rfbryos of 'the goose completely formed; Vt lft*^*Kfci m the *ggs of pttltets, having beaks, eyes, Jfcft, tifagfev *»& *vfcn $Sk ft£wn of com- mencing plumage, with all the other members of a young bird." He thence proceeds to discuss the sort of nourishment which these embryo geese require while remaining in the sea-shells, which increase gradually, he says, with the contained animal as do *tne shetls of oysters, snails, and tortoises. He like- wise discusses systematically, according to the Peri- patetic philosophy, the several causes of the bernaele goose — emcient, material, formal, and final. For proof of the possibility of the thing, he gravely refers fo the existence of hobgoblins, and he ascribes the production to 'the immediate influence of the stars ; and even goes the irreverent length of considering * In Nuremberg, Hist. Nat lii. 5. f Edit, 12mo. Fraacofurti, 1689* 373 HABITS OF BIRDS. the vegetable origin of these animal** an- emryKern of the Saviour f. " Btrnacle Cn'r™ from Aldroonnd. Amongst our own countrymen, in times approach- ing to our own, we find similar record* of ocular testimony, from which it will suffice to quota the following by Sir Robert Moray, which was published as authentic by the Royal Society. " In the western islands of Scotland," says Sir Robert, " the west ocean throws upon their shores great quantities of very large weather-beaten timber; the most ordinary trees are fir and asb. Being in the island of Uist, • See Insect T™rafo™»ljons, pp. 129-32. t The title of one of his chapters is " Qood finU praprius Iwjm volucris geoentionii sit, at refers! duplki suinitum, fegels-bili et . snimili, Christum Deum et hominem, qui quoque, sine ptat et malic, ul ilia, exiatit." BBRNAjCLfi, 373 ,,1,6^ lying, upon the shore, a cut. of a large fir tree, of about two feet and a half in diameter, and nine or ten feet long, which had lain so long out of the water, that it was very dry ; and most of the shells that had formerly covered it were worn or rubbed off* Only on the parts that lay next the ground, there still hung multitudes of little shells, that were of the colour and consistence of mussel shells. This bar- nacle-shell is thin about the edges, and about half as thick as broad. Every one of the shells hath some cross-seams or sutures, which, as I remember, divide it into five parts. These parts are fastened one to another, with such a film as mussel-shells have. These shells are hung at the tree by a neck, longer than the shell, of a kind of filmy substance, round and hollow, and creased not unlike the wind- pipe of a chicken, spreading out broadest where it is fastened to the tree, from which it seems to draw and convey the matter which serves for the growth and vegetation of the shell, and little bird within it. In every shell that I opened I found a perfect sea-fowl : the little bill, like that of a goose, the eyes marked ; the head, neck, breast, wings, tail, and feet formed ; the feathers everywhere perfectly shaped, and blackish coloured ; and the feet like those of other water- fowl, to my best remembrance *." Long before the days, however, of these credulous authors whom we have quoted, the celebrated Al- bertus Magnus (who died at Cologne in 1280) ex- pressly says that the stories about the tree-geese (Buumgans) are * ' altogether absurd," and for the best possible reason, " as I myself,' 1 he adds, " and many of my friends along with me, have seen them pair, lay eggs, and nurse their young t>" He subjoins an excellent description of the bird, such as Linnaeus * Philosophical Transactions. f Hist. Anim. xxiii. editio, Venetiis, 1495. 2 K 374 HABITS Of fclftbS. himself could Hot have surpassed. Below, the orni* thologist, also saw these geese, which he calls nuns from their colour, lay their eggs and hatch their young, and laughs at the vulgar notion of their being engendered in rotten ship-timber *. About a century before Belon, the celebrated Mneas Sylvius Piccolo- mini, afterwards Pope Pius II., not being disposed to believe the miraculous origin of the bemacle goose without evidence, made eager inquiry after it whe*n he was in Scotland, the result of which was, to user his own words, that "the miracle fled to remoter regions, and that the famous goose-tree was not to be found in Scotland, but in the Orkney Islands t ! M Gerard de Vera, being apparently unacquainted With the writings of Albertus Magnus and Belon, and even of his countryman, Clusins, gives an account of their mode of breeding as a new discovery. '• On the west side of Greenland," says he, " was a great winding and flat shore, resembling an island, where we found many eggs of the bernacles, which the Dutch call Rot-geese. We found, also, some of them hatching, which, on being driven away, cried rat, rot, rot (hence the Dutch name). One we killed with a stone, and cooked it, with about sixty eggs, which we had carried on board. These birds were identi- cally the same with the bernacles, or rot-geese, which came annually in great numbers about Wierengen in Holland, though, from it being hitherto unknown where they laid their eggs and reared their young, authors have not scrupled to write that they are bred on trees in Scotland J. After these ocular testi- monies, it would be utterly superfluous to detail the learned reasonings of Deusing § and the author of * Oiseaux, p. 158, edit. Paris, 1555. f Historia de Europa, cap. 46, edit. Helmstadt, 1700. | Trois Navig. faite* par les Hollanders ail Septentrion, p. 113, edit. Paris, 1599. } De Anseribus Scoticis, 12mo, Groningw, 1659. the ( Physica Curiosa' against the miraculous origin of the bernacle goose. The origin of the absurdities we have quoted may all be traced to the singular form of a multivalve shell, which Linnaeus has done wrong, we think, in designating goose-bearing (Lepas anatifera^ LiNfy) ; as " feathered '' (plumaia) would have been more appropriate and less in the style of fable. Bosc, Cuvier, and other modern conchologists have formed the equally objectionable generic term Anatifa. The shell itself, which is about an inch and a half long when full grown, is composed of five valves, exceedingly smooth, and of a bluish white colour, with yellow margins. The peduncle, or footstalk, supposed to be the neck of the young goose, is white and cartilaginous, and varies in length from half an inch or less to several feet. What was taken for feathers are the fingers (tentacula) of the shell-fish, of which twelve project in an elegant curve, and are used by it for making prey of small fish. These shells are chiefly found adhering to the bottoms of ships and pieces of timber floating in the sea. Colonel Montagu mentions his having seen a fir plank, more than twenty feet long, which was drifted on the coast of Devonshire, completely covered from end to end with bernacle shells. They are sometimes also, though more rarely, found on rocks: we have collected specimens on the basalt rocks at the Giants' Causeway in Ireland, and on the con- glomerate sandstone at Wemyss Bay, Renfrewshire*. It shows how exceedingly difficult it is to eradicate popular fables, that, "even of late years/' as Bingley mentions, " an attempt was made to impose upon the credulity of the public, by an exhibition in London of a large collection of these shells, as shells from which, as the advertisements stated, the bernacle * J. K. habits of mens. Btnaclc Shell (Leftu amlifen. Lnm. L. pl.iM/n, Num. Atatifit, geese were produced *." Yet Bingley himself, fol- lowing Liniueus, calls it " the goose-bearing ber- nacle ! " It is indeed an opinion, we believe, universally held • Animal Biog. iv. 305, 6th ed. , BERNACLE. 3)7 among the more uninformed of the Scottish peasantry at the present day, that the soland goose, or gannet (Sula alba, Mhsr), not the bernacle, grows by the bill upon the cliffs of the Bass, of Ailsa, and of St Hilda ; and we have even heard this maintained by persons of good education, the notion haying no doubt arisen from confounding the fables respecting the bernacle with the prodigious number of the gan- nets bred on those rocky isieta. Some idea of their multitude may be formed from the fact, that the pro- prietor of the Bass is said to make ISOi. per annum by them*, and from Martin's estimating the consumption of the inhabitants of St. Kilda alone at 22,600 of the young gannets, besides a countless number of eggs, — which are preserved throughout the year in pyramidal stone buildings, closely covered with turff. This provision is procured at the hazard of the lives of the fowlers, who have to clamber on the rocks at a pro- digious height over a raging sea, or to be lowered down to the nests from above, and, hanging in mid Fmrloraof St. KiliL. • Voyige lo St. KiMa, p t Ray's Select Remains, | J- m habits a* b;rbs. air, to place their whale dependance on the uncertain footing of the individual who holds the suspension cope at the top of the precipice. Thus precariously supported, the fowler stations himself upon the most dangerous ledges, and having ransacked all the nests within his reach, he moves off by means of a pole to some new station. The fable of the geese growing on these sea-rocks by their bills may also be partly illustrated by the ac- count given of one of their breeding- places by Har- vey, the celebrated discoverer of the circulation of the blood. " There is," says he, "a small island which the Scotch call the Bass, not above a mile in circuit, the surface of which, in the months of May and June, is so strewed with nests, eggs, and young birds, that it is difficult for a person to set down his foot without treading on them ; while so vast is the multitude of those which fly overhead, that,* like clouds, they darken the sqn and the sky, and such is their clan- gorous noise, that you can scarcely hear the voice of your companions.. If from the summit of the lofty precipice you look towards the sea which spreads below, you will perceive, wherever you turn your eyes, birds in countless multitudes, and of various kinds, swimming and hunting for their prey. If, sailing round, you survey the impending cliff, you will see, in every crag and fissure of the indented rock, birds of all sorts and sizes, which would out- number the stars that appear in a clear night If, from a distance, you behold the flocks roving about the island, you would Imagine them to be a vast swarm of bees V It would appear that certain vague reports re- specting flying-fish led to similar fables, as we learn from Redi, who, in writing to Kircher, says, " I might well be accused of credulity should I believe * Exercit. de Generation? Animal, il. FLYIffG-FISH. 3Ifl that there are found in the Chinese sea scaly fishest of a saffron colour, which live in the water through** out the winter, but at the arrival of spring, having east off their scales, assume feathers and wings, and unfolding their wings fly to the mountains, where they remain throughout the summer and au- tumn, after which they return to their old form, and again sink into the water. And although you, most learned father, in your work on China, do not obscurely hint that you believe this, nevertheless I am of opinion that you are not sincere in your belief, and that you have introduced it for no other purpose than to afford a noble instance of your lofty mind, and profound erudition, by investigating and explaining the reasons of this reciprocal transmuta- tion, which may be true, although at variance with the general laws of nature V * Experimenta circa varias Res Naturales, p. 150. FINIS. Printed by William Clowes, Duke Street, Lambeth. k V * t f f